Venezuela is sitting on the planet’s largest oil stockpile, some 303 billion barrels, yet major oil company executives are torn over whether the billions of dollars needed to revamp the country’s oil infrastructure are worth it.
The debate: Up to $100 billion will be necessary to get Venezuela’s oil industry where it needs to be. While the upside is massive, it may take years for companies like Chevron and ExxonMobil to get the returns they need to justify the expense. It would be a slam-dunk choice if those reserves were located elsewhere. But Venezuela has burned oil companies more than once, and most big players are justified in being gun-shy.
Quick fact: Venezuela’s peak production totaled 3.75 millionbarrels per day. In 2025, it totals about 800,000, up from a low of about 350,000 in 2020.
Still, ExxonMobil’s CEO has called Venezuela “uninvestable” under current rules.
Chevron, which still operates in the country to a limited extent, and energy service companies like SLB (formerly Schlumberger) and Halliburton, which are likely to get windfall business if big oil goes all-in, are more optimistic.
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Petroboscán: A 39.2% interest in the Boscan Field.
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Petroindependiente, S.A.: 25.2% interest in the LL-652 Field at Lake Maracaibo
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Petropiar, S.A.: 30% interest in Huyapari Field within heavy-crude dominant Orinoco Belt.
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Petroindependencia, S.A.: 34% interest in Carabobo 3 Project in Carabobo area of the Orinoco Belt (extra-heavy crude).
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Ioran: 60% interest offshore in the Loran Field.
Source: Chevron.
They’re apparently confident that the White House can build in the protections needed, clearing the way to a massive revamp of an industry that has suffered from underinvestment for decades.
Wall Street agrees, given investors have resoundingly backed oil stocks since last fall, driving share prices higher as tensions with Venezuela and the U.S. mounted ahead of Nicolas Maduro’s pre-dawn capture in early January.
Major oil executives, including those at Chevron, put more color on the opportunity recently, suggesting what may happen in Venezuela next.
A large, comprehensive plan may take time to iron out, given that changes will likely need to happen to convince Big Oil that investments in Venezuela won’t amount to tossing good money after bad.
For now, a different approach may be taking shape. Rather than a massive overhaul, more targeted projects may become the focus, rapidly boosting production back on wells considered most profitable, providing the cash flow necessary to convince players that the reward far exceeds the risks.
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Chevron (CVX) is currently producing about 140,000 barrels of oil daily. Vice Chairman Mark Nelson told the White House in early January that it could boost production at its joint ventures with Venezuela’s state oil company, PDVSA, 50% over the next 18 months to two years. Before U.S. sanctions were expanded in 2025, Chevron’s production exceeded 200,000 bpd.
Chevron currently works with PDVSA on five projects, both offshore and onshore, three of which are heavy or extra-heavy crude oil.
Quick fact: Chevron has 77,000 oil and gas gross acres in Venezuela.
In mid-January, Reuters reported that Chevron was expected to be one of the first to secure expanded licenses from the White House to boost production in Venezuela
SLB (SLB), the largest energy service company by market cap, and Halliburton (HAL), an expert in boosting well production, reported quarterly earnings results this week, allowing their executives to share their thoughts.
“SLB is the only international service company actively operating in Venezuela today,” said CEO Olivier Le Peuch on the company’s earnings call. “We are excited, and we are already receiving a lot of inquiries from our customers.”
Related: SLB dividend growth depends on new digital oilfield revenue
SLB has been working on projects in Venezuela for “nearly a century.” Le Peuch already has feet and equipment on the ground, potentially allowing it to start generating revenue from projects relatively quickly if licenses are granted to producers and it secures a contract, especially since Chevron is already a major SLB customer.
“We have today a significant set of assets that are ready to be deployed across the drilling services, across production, with no less than 10 production sets across rig operation with rigs that we are ready to mobilize,” said Le Peuch. “We can be the leading drilling partner for our customers there.”
SLB rival Halliburton also struck a positive tone in its call with Wall Street.
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“I’m excited about the tremendous opportunity for Halliburton in Venezuela. Halliburton entered Venezuela in 1938… Halliburton knows this market well, and we will grow our business there as soon as commercial and legal terms are resolved, including payment certainty,” said CEO Jeffrey Miller.
The final part of that sentence, “including payment certainty,” is essential. Still, Miller clearly believes Halliburton could quickly ramp up in Venezuela to profit from well construction, completion, intervention, diagnostics, and reservoir evaluation there.
“I think we could scale up fairly quickly… We still have a footprint there in Venezuela in terms of operating bases and whatnot,” continued Miller. “My phone is ringing off the hook in terms of interest in Halliburton being there.”
Oil stocks have moved higher since bottoming last September. Still, energy remains significantly underweight in the S&P 500 relative to history, and the energy sector is one of the strongest performers this year, suggesting ongoing momentum.
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Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE): 6.09%
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S&P Oil & Gas Equipment & Services ETF (XES): 10%
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S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (XOP): 7.1%
Source: Yahoo!Finance Historical Quotes.
The recent strength is reflected in the fact that energy remains the top scoring sector in my sector ranking, which I constructed over 20 years ago for mutual and hedge fund managers. The energy sector has steadily climbed in my ranking, based on fundamental and technical analysis, over the past three months as technology has fallen. It has maintained the top spot in two of the past three weeks, according to Limelight Alpha, which still produces the ranking weekly.
Within energy, my industry ranking scores large-cap equipment & services and midstream highest, followed by mid-cap exploration and production stocks and small-cap drillers.
Zooming out, energy stocks are typically strong performers during the late stages of the business cycle, according to Fidelity, but unlike in previous periods, the basket’s performance doesn’t rely on crude oil prices rising. Simply ramping up total production in Venezuela can generate billions of dollars in revenue and profit opportunities, even if oil prices remain depressed.
“A decade ago, it was probably a $0.5 billion business for us pretty consistently,” said Miller. “I’m quite optimistic about longer term being a much bigger business.”
SLB could be in for an even bigger tailwind.
“Historically, we have had, about 10 years ago, more than 3,000 people, and we were recording visibly more than $1 billion in revenue at that time,” said Le Peuch.
Related: Top energy stocks to buy amid Venezuela chaos
This story was originally published by TheStreet on Jan 25, 2026, where it first appeared in the Investing section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
