Chevron denies talks on Venezuela

South American nation's oil industry has been under US sanctions

HOUSTON:

Chevron, the only US oil producer now working in Venezuela's oilfields, has not held any discussions with President-elect Donald Trump's team over the company's operations in the country, CEO Michael Wirth said on Friday.

Since 2019, Venezuela's oil industry has been under US sanctions designed to curb its oil income and force out President Nicolas Maduro in response to electoral fraud following his re-election in 2018 and a disputed election in 2024. Chevron has been allowed since 2022 to export oil to recoup unpaid dividends from joint venture partners.

It aims to support US policy on Venezuela while providing a better future to Venezuelans, Wirth said in remarks to think tank Atlantic Council. "We are trying to hang in there, work with our government," Wirth said. "As other companies have left Venezuela, they've been replaced, by and large, with companies from two countries, Russia and China and if we were to leave, that, no doubt, is where the operations that we're involved with would likely end up as well," he added.

The easing of restrictions on Chevron and other oil firms came under the administration of US President Joe Biden and it is unclear what the incoming Trump administration's policy will be.

Oil shipments last month to the US from Venezuela by Chevron under a 2022 authorisation from the Biden administration were 238,000 barrels per day. Wirth also talked about the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which the government is working to replenish after its biggest sale ever in 2022. "If (the SPR) is no longer needed, we ought to come to that conclusion. If it is needed, I think there ought to be some guardrails around its use that are a little bit stronger than the ones that exist today," Wirth said.