# Chevron and Eni Sign Venezuela Expansion Deals as Washington Takes Control of a Fifth of Reserves

Chevron valued its two new Orinoco Belt projects at $7 billion and said output there will more than double within five years, while Eni took exclusive rights to the Junin 5 field.

- Published: 2026-09-03T05:19:30.989Z
- Canonical: https://polylog.news/2026-09-03/chevron-and-eni-sign-venezuela-expansion-deals-as-washington
- Publisher: Polylog (Global desk)
- Section: markets
- Sources: [Al Jazeera](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/3/uss-chevron-italys-eni-to-expand-oil-projects-in-venezuela), [Euronews](https://www.euronews.com/2026/09/03/us-energy-firms-significantly-expand-operations-in-venezuela-after-washingtons-oil-deal-wi), [South China Morning Post](https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3366178/venezuelas-maduro-seeks-dismissal-us-charges-citing-immunity)

Venezuela and a group of foreign energy companies signed drilling and development agreements in Caracas on Tuesday, completing the commercial part of an arrangement that transfers operating control of a large part of the country's oil industry to firms aligned with Washington. Chevron, Italy's Eni, and the power equipment maker GE Vernova signed the agreements in the presence of Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela's acting president, and Chris Wright, the United States energy secretary, [according to Al Jazeera](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/3/uss-chevron-italys-eni-to-expand-oil-projects-in-venezuela).

Chevron said its deal covers two additional fields in the Orinoco Belt, is worth about $7 billion, and will more than double the project's output within five years. Eni obtained exclusive exploration rights to Junin 5, one of the larger undeveloped blocks in the same belt. Both deals follow the framework agreement announced days earlier, which [Euronews reported](https://www.euronews.com/2026/09/03/us-energy-firms-significantly-expand-operations-in-venezuela-after-washingtons-oil-deal-wi) gives companies linked to the United States majority control over 17 fields holding roughly a fifth of Venezuela's oil reserves. Under that framework, American citizens must hold a majority of seats on the operating company's board, and the United States government holds a veto over board membership.

The two sides describe the arrangement in very different terms. United States officials rejected the accusation that Washington coerced Venezuela into the deal, saying it benefits both countries and develops oil reserves that had remained undeveloped underground. Nicolás Maduro, the Venezuelan president removed from office and now held in the United States, has called himself a prisoner of war and described his capture as a kidnapping. His lawyers [asked a federal court in Manhattan](https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3366178/venezuelas-maduro-seeks-dismissal-us-charges-citing-immunity) to dismiss the drug trafficking indictment that formed the legal basis for the operation that removed him.

The timing affects the oil market. Brent crude traded near $95 a barrel this week, as tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains severely constrained. Venezuelan heavy crude cannot replace Gulf barrels quickly, because the fields need years of capital spending and refinery matching, but the agreement changes where the marginal barrel of oil is expected to come from later this decade. It also shows that physical control of reserves, not price alone, has become the tool states use to secure supply.

## What this means

Washington has converted a sanctions and enforcement campaign into equity and board control over specific oil fields, a different mechanism than a purchase contract. Chevron and Eni gain long-lived reserves at costs set by negotiation rather than auction. Refiners on the United States Gulf Coast gain a nearby source of heavy crude suited to their equipment, while Gulf producers lose a share of the future demand for their output. Venezuelan state revenue now depends on a governance structure that a foreign government can veto, which shifts the country's sovereign risk from the price of oil to the politics of the partnership.

## What to watch

- Whether Chevron publishes a capital spending schedule for the Orinoco fields, which would show if the promised doubling of output is funded or aspirational.
- Whether other producers with heavy crude, notably Colombia, Brazil and Canada, are offered similar equity structures, which would signal that this is a template rather than a one-off settlement.
- How Venezuelan export volumes to United States refiners move over the next two quarters, the first hard measure of whether control converts into barrels.