Venezuela’s Oil Minister Went to Houston and Signed Two Deals
Venezuela · Energy
Key Facts
- Who Paula Henao, Venezuela’s oil minister, in Houston on 18 and 19 August.
- Deal one A hydrocarbons production participation agreement with Hunt Oil covering two oil fields, aimed at recovering production.
- Deal two A framework agreement with SLB, the oilfield services company formerly called Schlumberger, for integrated reservoir studies.
- The pitch “Ready to sign oil deals”, she told Houston investors, seeking production-sharing contracts.
- Her invitation “The invitation is that we can sit down, we can evaluate, what is the opportunity in Venezuela?”
- Chevron, separately Its finance chief said on 31 July that output across its Venezuelan joint ventures should rise 50% by end-2028, to about 420,000 barrels a day.
- Where it happened The Venezuela Energy Week Houston Showcase.
Two contracts, a sales pitch and a promise of legal security, delivered in the capital of the American oil industry.
The most striking thing about this week’s Venezuela oil deals is not their size. It is the venue. Venezuela’s oil minister spent two days in Houston, signed two agreements with American companies, and told a room of investors that the country with the world’s largest crude reserves is open and offering legal security.
The two Venezuela oil deals
Paula Henao, Venezuela’s oil minister, said on Tuesday 18 August that the country had signed contracts with SLB and Hunt Oil.
The Hunt Oil agreement is a hydrocarbons production participation agreement covering two oil fields, which Henao described as intended to recover production. The SLB agreement is a framework arrangement for integrated reservoir studies — the technical groundwork that establishes what is actually recoverable before anyone commits capital.
The sequence matters. Reservoir studies come first because Venezuelan fields have been run hard with limited investment for a decade, and nobody signs a production contract on numbers they have not verified themselves.
The pitch, and the word that matters
Speaking to investors in Houston on 19 August, Henao said Venezuela is ready to sign oil deals and wants production-sharing contracts to raise output. At the Venezuela Energy Week Houston Showcase she put it as an invitation: “The invitation is that we can sit down, we can evaluate, what is the opportunity in Venezuela?”
The word doing the work in that pitch is security — legal security, guaranteed. It is the specific thing Venezuela cannot simply assert, because the country expropriated foreign oil assets in 2007 and spent the following fifteen years in arbitration over it. Every company in that Houston room knows the history, and several were parties to it.
Which is why the contracts signed are modest and technical rather than large and capital-committing. Reservoir studies and field-level participation are how you rebuild a commercial relationship that ended badly.
Chevron’s number, and where it came from
The figure circulating alongside this week’s news — Venezuelan output up 50% by 2028 — is Chevron’s, and it is older than the Houston meetings. Chevron’s chief financial officer, Eimear Bonner, said on 31 July that production across the company’s Venezuelan joint ventures is expected to rise by half by the end of 2028, reaching roughly 420,000 barrels a day.
That is a company forecast about its own joint ventures, made three weeks ago, not a statement by the Venezuelan government this week. The two have been conflated in some coverage and are worth keeping apart.
Chevron matters here because it never left. It held a licence through the sanctions period and is the reference point for what an American major can actually achieve in Venezuela.
Why this matters if you live in Latin America
Venezuela sits on the largest proven crude reserves in the world and produces a fraction of what it could. Every barrel that comes back changes the arithmetic for the region: refining flows in the Caribbean, freight rates, and the price of the diluent that heavy Venezuelan crude needs to move at all.
It also changes the politics. An American oil industry with contracts in Venezuela is an American oil industry with an interest in stability there, and that interest tends to outlast individual administrations in both countries.
The caution is the one the minister was trying to answer. Legal security in Venezuela has been promised before. Contracts signed in Houston in August are worth what they are worth in five years, and the companies signing them have priced that.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Venezuela oil deals were signed in Houston?
Two. A hydrocarbons production participation agreement with Hunt Oil covering two oil fields, aimed at recovering production, and a framework agreement with SLB — the oilfield services company formerly known as Schlumberger — for integrated reservoir studies. Oil minister Paula Henao announced them on Tuesday 18 August 2026.
What did the minister say to investors?
Speaking in Houston on 19 August, Paula Henao said Venezuela is ready to sign oil deals and wants production-sharing contracts to raise output from the world’s largest crude reserves. At the Venezuela Energy Week Houston Showcase she said: “The invitation is that we can sit down, we can evaluate, what is the opportunity in Venezuela?”
Is Chevron raising Venezuelan output 50%?
That is Chevron’s own forecast for its Venezuelan joint ventures, given by chief financial officer Eimear Bonner on 31 July 2026: production up 50% by the end of 2028, to about 420,000 barrels a day. It was not a statement made by the Venezuelan government this week, and the two have been conflated in some coverage.
Why are the contracts small and technical?
Because the commercial relationship has to be rebuilt. Venezuela expropriated foreign oil assets in 2007 and spent years in arbitration. Reservoir studies establish what is recoverable before capital is committed, and field-level participation agreements limit exposure while confidence is re-established.
Connected Coverage
Venezuela Oil Exports Up 19.7% This Year, PDVSA Says
Sources: Bloomberg — Venezuela is ready to sign oil deals, minister tells Houston investors; Bloomberg — Venezuela signs deals with SLB and Hunt in a push to boost oil output; Politico — US oil producers and Venezuelan production deals
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