ExxonMobil Holdings Corporation is nearing a preliminary agreement with Venezuela's state-owned PDVSA that could return the company to the country almost two decades after its assets were nationalized, according to a Wall Street Journal report on September 16. Reuters reported that Exxon has shown interest in the large Petromonagas heavy oil project in the Orinoco Belt, as well as in areas in the neighboring Carabobo block, with the fields under consideration estimated to contain more than 50 billion barrels of oil buried underground. The talks remain preliminary and could still fall apart or be delayed, but they mark a major turnaround from Exxon CEO Darren Woods' January statement that the country was uninvestable without durable investment protections, legal reforms, and changes to its hydrocarbon laws. The development comes amid a broader push by the Trump administration to open Venezuela's oil industry to American companies and revive the country's dilapidated oil infrastructure, with the South American nation holding the largest proven crude oil reserves in the world, roughly 17% of the global total. Petromonagas, formerly called Cerro Negro, was once Exxon's flagship project in Venezuela and remains one of the few Venezuelan projects with an operational upgrader capable of turning the Orinoco's extra-heavy crude into lighter exportable grades, though Reuters reported the upgrader will likely need maintenance and major repairs after decades of underinvestment.
Exxon Mobil Corp
