U.S. oil companies sign some of the first deals with Venezuela since Maduro’s capture
Venezuela’s oil minister and a top state-owned oil company executive visited Houston this week, signing some of their first contracts with U.S. companies since the U.S. captured Nicolás Maduro.
Transcript
SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
Venezuela’s energy leaders say the country is open for business.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
This week, U.S. oil companies signed some of the first deals with Venezuela in close to two decades. This comes eight months after the U.S. seized Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
PFEIFFER: Houston Public Media’s energy reporter, Natalie Weber, has been reporting on this, and she joins us from Houston. Good morning, Natalie.
NATALIE WEBER, BYLINE: Good morning.
PFEIFFER: So I recall that after the U.S. captured Maduro, oil companies were hesitant to get involved with Venezuela, but now they’re involved. Give us a sense of what’s in these deals.
WEBER: Yeah. So the Dallas-based Hunt Oil Company entered into a contract to expand the country’s oil and gas production. And then SLB – formerly known as Schlumberger – a Houston oilfield services company, also signed an agreement for oil exploration in Venezuela. And Venezuela’s oil minister, Paula Henao, announced this deal on state-run media.
These deals were signed on Tuesday while Venezuelan leaders were in Houston for an energy conference. And I attended the conference in Houston where Henao spoke this week. She says the country has made changes to its laws that will make it easier for foreign companies to invest in Venezuela.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PAULA HENAO: (Speaking Spanish).
WEBER: What she’s saying right now is that the country’s agreements with U.S. companies offer a chance to evaluate opportunities for investment in Venezuela. Now, at this time, we don’t really know how much these deals are worth. That hasn’t been made public yet.
PFEIFFER: Natalie, could you give us some sense of the significance of these deals?
WEBER: Sure. Well, these are some of the first major agreements between U.S. oil companies and Venezuela since the Venezuelan government took control of foreign oil fields in 2007. The South American country has the world’s largest proven oil reserves, according to OPEC. James Chester is the CEO of Energy Capital & Power, which organized the Houston conference with Venezuelan leaders this week. Here’s what he said.
JAMES CHESTER: It’s very significant that they’re actually coming here. They’re not waiting for people to come to Caracas.
WEBER: It’s a tough time for Venezuela right now. The country needs billions of dollars to rebuild after a devastating earthquake killed thousands of people in June. So the country needs money, and soon. And these contracts are a meaningful milestone after many oil corporations have kind of hesitated to get involved in Venezuela. That’s according to Francisco Monaldi. He’s the director of Rice University’s Latin America Energy Program.
FRANCISCO MONALDI: These could open up a new wave of investment. Still, we have to wait and see if companies actually deploy their resources.
WEBER: Still, a lot of energy CEOs say it could take time and a lot of money to ramp up Venezuela’s oil production.
PFEIFFER: So as we just heard, it’s unclear how this might play out, whether the companies will make money. Do we have any sense of whether this could become a trend of oil deals between U.S. companies and Venezuela?
WEBER: So it’s hard to say. Even if Maduro has been removed from office, the country’s still being run by his vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, under the title of acting president. And even if some companies are starting to make moves, there’s still a lot of political uncertainty. Industry analysts told me energy companies may try to prioritize short-term deals. They say once President Trump leaves office, it’s hard to say what U.S. foreign policy in Venezuela could look like, and that could have a huge impact on international business deals.
PFEIFFER: That is Natalie Weber from Houston Public Media. Thank you.
WEBER: Thank you.
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