While Chevron is investing $7 billion in Venezuela to double its oil output within five years, ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods again urged “caution” and said a lot of reforms are still required before any major entry into the country is decided.
https://fortune.com/2026/10/31/chevron-speeds-venezuela-exxon-urges-caution-little-pinch-of-salt/
Historically, companies that invested a lot in Venezuela lost their investment, including Chevron (the only reason we stayed was to try and claw back what we were owed; Exxon sued to get their money back). Suggesting "it's different this time" because of the wild changes the last two years, is folly.
There are big differences, for CVX we are already in the country and had been producing, for ExxonMobil, it is a whole different game, for us is low hanging fruit compared to finding other counries to enter, for ExxonMobil it is competitive as many other countries might be slightly better or worse for entry depending on volume of oil, geopolitical risks, type of crude oil, capital investment, etc.
@OP
I have never been to Valenzuela but I would think there are a lot of infrastructure improvements needed before these corporations can expand oil production. Water, electricity, housing, medical, etc.
What else does Chevron have in the pipeline for windfall profits? Another long winding merger? Go Venezuela! Fail fast!