September 07, 2026 [Storage Terminals Magazine]- Chevron Corporation has reached agreements with Venezuela that establish updated terms for its joint ventures in the country, with the company planning to use the revised framework to support further investment, project development and production growth.

The agreements include enhanced fiscal, commercial and legal provisions for Chevron’s Venezuelan joint ventures, alongside additional acreage in the Orinoco Belt, where the company already has an established presence.

Under the new arrangements, Chevron and its joint-venture partners plan to invest more than $7 billion over the next five years. The investment programme is expected to more than double production from current levels to approximately 600,000 barrels per day, based on a comparison with 2026 production.

Chevron said the projects are expected to benefit from production costs of less than $20 per barrel and Venezuela’s substantial oil resource base.

Mike Wirth, Chevron’s chairman and chief executive officer, said the company’s presence in Venezuela dates back more than a century and that the revised agreements reflected its confidence in the country’s resource potential.

The agreements also expand Chevron’s position in the Orinoco Belt. Petroindependencia, S.A., in which a Chevron subsidiary holds a 49 percent interest, has been assigned rights to develop the adjacent Carabobo-1 and Carabobo-2-South-A areas.

The greenfield areas will expand Petroindependencia’s existing operating footprint as the joint venture continues to develop extra-heavy oil production in the Orinoco Belt.

The latest agreement follows a deal announced in April under which Chevron increased its working interest in Petroindependencia to 49 percent and received development rights for the Ayacucho 8 area, adjacent to its Petropiar, S.A. joint venture.

Chevron said production across its three Venezuelan joint ventures has increased by 15 percent year-to-date.

The company also credited engagement with the US government, including the US Department of Energy, for helping establish conditions for further investment and development in Venezuela. Wirth said continued government-industry engagement would be important to projects supporting energy security, economic growth and investment.

Chevron has operated in Venezuela since 1923 and is one of the country’s major international energy companies. Its Venezuelan portfolio includes Petroindependencia and Petropiar, which operate extra-heavy oil projects in the Orinoco Oil Belt, as well as Petroboscan, located in Zulia State in western Venezuela.