ExxonMobil signs preliminary deal with Venezuela's PDVSA to study oil
The non-binding memorandum covers possible upstream projects, but Exxon set conditions and gave no spending figure, timeline or output target.
ExxonMobil said on Monday it had signed a preliminary agreement with Petróleos de Venezuela to study oil projects in the country, the first formal step toward a return by the US oil major after nearly two decades away.
The Rio Times reported that the document is a non-binding memorandum of understanding with PDVSA, the state company that runs Venezuela's oil industry. Exxon said it covers potential "upstream" opportunities, the industry term for finding and pumping crude, and called it "a meaningful first step". The company set conditions in the same statement: any future investment would require "stable policies, clear regulations, strong investment protections and competitive returns".
Exxon did not name fields or regions, a price tag, a schedule or an output goal, according to The Rio Times. The text of the memorandum has not been published.
The prize is Venezuela's reserves, which OPEC counts at roughly 300 billion barrels, the most of any member. Years of underinvestment have left production far below that potential, and analysts say a revival would take years.
Exxon left Venezuela nearly two decades ago after the government of President Hugo Chávez expropriated its assets. Chief executive Darren Woods kept expectations low on the company's late-October earnings call, saying operating there would require substantial changes to how business has historically been done, and adding: "We're not in a rush." The Rio Times reported those remarks.
Rival Chevron moved earlier. On 2 September it announced plans to invest more than $7bn over five years and to roughly double its Venezuelan output to about 600,000 barrels a day, under new agreements it said improved fiscal and legal terms, The Rio Times reported.
The Wall Street Journal described the Exxon memorandum as a first step toward investing in Venezuela, The New York Times as a preliminary deal to return, and Reuters as an agreement to evaluate oil opportunities. The Rio Times said some accounts list the Venezuelan government as a signatory while Exxon's statement names only PDVSA.
The Trump administration wants US companies at the front of rebuilding Venezuela's energy sector, The Rio Times reported, after US forces captured then-president Nicolás Maduro in January.
How the reports differ
Reuters framed the agreement as a step to evaluate oil opportunities, The Wall Street Journal as Exxon's first step toward investing in Venezuela, and The New York Times as a preliminary deal to return. Only The Rio Times named PDVSA as the counterparty, quoted chief executive Darren Woods saying "We're not in a rush", and set the deal against Chevron's earlier $7bn, five-year investment plan and OPEC's roughly 300 billion barrels of Venezuelan reserves. The Rio Times also noted that some accounts put the Venezuelan government on the document while Exxon's statement names only PDVSA, a discrepancy the other reports did not raise.
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