Venezuela needs investment in new wells
Letter from Venezuela: A long journey back from the oil wilderness
Lifting sanctions may still be a bridge too far in becoming a sustainable supplier of crude to the US
There is a great irony in the fact that sanctions-blighted Venezuela has some wiggle room in exporting crude to the US given it would be replacing Russian barrels. But the irony may be moot given the difficulty the Latin American country would have in, first, getting sanctions lifted further and, second, ramping up supplies even if restrictions were eased. After the Biden administration looked to bring in new sources of crude imports following the ban on Russian oil, it decided in November 2022 to give Chevron a six-month licence to expand operations and export Venezuelan oil to the US. But strained relations between Caracas and Washington mean there is unlikely to be a flurry of new opportu
Also in this section
16 January 2026
The country’s global energy importance and domestic political fate are interlocked, highlighting its outsized oil and gas powers, and the heightened fallout risk
16 January 2026
The global maritime oil transport sector enters 2026 facing a rare convergence of crude oversupply, record newbuild deliveries and the potential easing of several geopolitical disruptions that have shaped trade flows since 2022
15 January 2026
Rebuilding industry, energy dominance and lower energy costs are key goals that remain at odds in 2026
14 January 2026
Chavez’s socialist reforms boosted state control but pushed knowledge and capital out of the sector, opening the way for the US shale revolution
