From 280,000 to 600,000 Barrels per Day: Chevron Seeks To Double Venezuelan Oil Production by Injecting $7 Billion

Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodriguez (R) and US Energy Secretary Chris Wright (L) talk as they give a press conference after the signing of an oil agreement at the Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas on September 2, 2026. US Energy Secretary Chris Wright oversaw the signing of deals worth "tens of billions of dollars" between Venezuela and oil majors Chevron and ENI as well as with energy company GE Vernova on September 2, 2026. (Credit: Photo by Juan BARRETO / AFP via Getty Images)

Oil giant Chevron unveiled a plan Wednesday to pour upward of $7 billion into its Venezuelan operations over five years, a wager designed to carry the company's local output from roughly 280,000 barrels daily today to something near 600,000, effectively doubling where production stands now. Fresh drilling rights inside the Orinoco Belt come bundled with the move, which lands squarely inside a much larger Washington-driven effort to pull American capital back into Venezuela's oil fields.

New ground in the Orinoco Belt