The Secretary of Energy Chris Wright noted that U.S. buyers currently pay around $45 per barrel for Venezuelan crude, significantly higher than the $31 per barrel Venezuelans received prior to Maduro’s detention. Commodity traders like Trafigura and Vitol have facilitated initial sales of approximately 11 million barrels to U.S. and European refiners, including Repsol, Valero Energy, and Phillips 66. Despite this, Venezuela’s oil shipments to China have effectively ceased following U.S. sanctions, naval blockades, and vessel seizures, leaving Chevron as the only major company with ongoing export operations under special licensing.
The country’s oil production, now under 1 million barrels daily, faces significant operational and infrastructural hurdles. Venezuela’s heavy, high-sulfur crude demands costly refining processes and substantial investments, with estimates indicating that restoring production to previous highs could require upwards of $85 billion over a decade. U.S. oil companies invited by the administration remain hesitant, citing unresolved legal frameworks, investment guarantees, and risks tied to the political transition involving the interim government headed by Delcy Rodríguez. The complex interplay of geopolitical, legal, and technical challenges casts uncertainty on the timeline and scale at which Venezuelan oil might return as a stable global supply source.
Despite these hurdles, the U.S. administration is leveraging this control to reduce the influence of China and Russia in Latin America’s energy markets and to potentially lower gasoline prices domestically ahead of upcoming elections. The evolving dynamics between Washington, Beijing, Caracas, and international oil corporations will be critical to watch in the coming months.
This article was curated and published as part of our South American energy market coverage.
