Italy’s Eni secured a production-sharing contract for the Junín 5 block in the Orinoco Oil Belt, the world’s largest crude reserve. Reuters reporting cited in source materials indicates Eni plans to invest approximately $1.5 billion in Junín 5, with ambitions to reach 400,000 barrels daily toward the decade’s end. PDVSA separately signed a production contract with Primavera for the eastern Budare-Elotes block. The U.S. government estimates Venezuela could surpass 2 million barrels per day before 2030, though that depends on sustained capital inflows and infrastructure recovery. Current production stands near 1.2 million barrels daily, far below the nearly 3 million barrels daily Venezuela produced in the 1990s.
Beyond oil, PDVSA and GE Vernova signed strategic agreements to rehabilitate electrical infrastructure linked to oil operations, with a separate GE-Corpoelec deal targeting the national power grid. GE Vernova executive Roger Martella confirmed the projects will create more than 1,000 local jobs immediately. Rodríguez characterized the electrical recovery as the most extraordinary element of the agreements, emphasizing that production gains require reliable power supply. The contracts were signed less than a week after the Trump administration announced an agreement granting the U.S. access to develop roughly 20 percent of Venezuela’s proven reserves through a mixed-capital entity involving North American Blue Energy Partners and the Pentagon. Wright’s presence in Caracas for his second visit this year underscores Washington’s direct involvement in Venezuela’s energy sector reactivation, a shift with implications for global oil markets and regional energy trade flows.
This article was curated and published as part of our South American energy market coverage.
