TotalEnergies CFO Jean-Pierre Sbraire stated in April that the French major was developing a commercialization scheme for crude flows from Venezuela to the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. The company plans to direct a portion of heavy crude purchased from PDVSA to its Port Arthur refinery near Houston, which has processing capacity of 238,000 barrels per day. The refinery’s configuration makes it well-suited to handle Venezuela’s heavy crude grades, which have historically been a preferred feedstock for U.S. Gulf Coast refiners.
Venezuela’s oil production reached 1.201 million barrels per day in August 2026, representing a 29.9 percent increase from 924,000 barrels per day in January. The production recovery follows a comprehensive overhaul of the country’s hydrocarbon legal framework, approved by Venezuela’s chavismo-controlled parliament in January to incentivize foreign investment. Analysts have characterized the reforms as dismantling the nationalist energy policies established under Hugo Chávez, who governed from 1999 to 2013.
The legislative changes came after the United States deposed and captured president Nicolás Maduro in January, opening Venezuela to foreign investment across strategic sectors including oil, mining and electricity. On August 28, U.S. President Donald Trump and Rodríguez announced a separate agreement granting exploitation rights to one-fifth of Venezuela’s oil reserves through a company with 35 percent Pentagon equity participation.
The government reports signing approximately 50 oil and gas agreements since the regulatory shift, though production remains well below historical levels. In 1998, the year before chavismo took power, Venezuela produced 3.1 million barrels per day. The TotalEnergies agreement adds a major international energy company to Venezuela’s expanding roster of foreign partners as the country seeks capital and technical expertise to rebuild its oil industry.
This article was curated and published as part of our South American energy market coverage.
