The potential re-opening of Venezuela’s oil market for U.S. producers depends greatly on political stability and regulatory clarity for the future. Key hurdles include damaged infrastructure, sanctions uncertainty, a volatile on-the-ground dynamic, and long-term capital-intensive processes – that if addressed, could unlock a potential vast reserve of strategic resources.  

S&P Global’s Daniel Yergin dives further into the complex history – and potential resurgence – of Venezuela’s oil market in a recent piece published in the Wall Street Journal.

Key excerpts are included below, and to read the full article, click HERE.

Excerpts:

“No one was paying any attention to Venezuelan oil two weeks ago,” a longtime oilman said to me the other day, “but now everyone is.” Donald Trump made that happen. Following the dramatic seizure of dictator Nicolás Maduro by American forces on Jan. 3, the president declared that the U.S. would take control of the country’s oil industry, with Venezuela turning over 30 to 50 million barrels for the U.S. to sell, the proceeds being used “to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States!”

But that’s just the beginning. Trump has made clear that he wants U.S. oil companies to return to Venezuela in a big way.

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But what will it take to persuade companies to make such big bets on Venezuela again? …Any real plan for reviving Venezuela’s oil industry has to reckon with the political legacy of the country’s long, turbulent history with its petro riches.

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The current situation reminds me of a conversation I had with the CEO of one of the major international oil companies on the eve of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. “You know what I’ll say to the first person in our company who comes to us with a proposal to invest a billion dollars?” he said. He’d ask them about the new regime’s legal and political system, economic and fiscal policies, standards for contracts, arrangements for arbitration and security. “Tell us about all those things,” he added, “and then we’ll talk about whether we’re going to invest or not.”

Venezuela today is very different from Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, and 2025 is not 2003. But similar questions will be on the agenda before billions of dollars of investment start to flow again into Venezuela, and the answers will have to be worked out. That will take time.

Read the full piece HERE.