Knob Petroleum has retained Ballard Partners to explore opportunities in Venezuela.
Panama City-based Knob provides services and parts to oil refineries, rigs and offshore platforms.
Ballard, which has close ties to the Trump administration, established a Venezuela working group within its western hemisphere affairs practice in January
Partner Scott Wagner, a member of the western hemisphere unit, is a lawyer with decades of cross-border transaction in Latin America, and reps Knob. He has handled issues in Venezuela, Cuba, Colombia and Panama.
Brian Ballard, a Trump fund-raiser, also handles Knob.