ExxonMobil has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Venezuela’s state-owned oil company PDVSA to assess upstream oil opportunities, marking a potential return to the country nearly two decades after its assets were expropriated, according to Reuters.
ExxonMobil described the agreement as a meaningful first step and noted that any future investment would require stable policies, clear regulations, strong investment protections and competitive returns.
The American company first entered Venezuela in the 1940s. It held a 41.67% stake in the Cerro Negro heavy crude project, now known as Petromonagas, and a 50% interest in the La Ceiba project in the southern Maracaibo basin.
ExxonMobil left Venezuela after refusing to give PDVSA majority control over its projects during the nationalization push under former President Hugo Chávez.
In January 2026, ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods described Venezuela as “uninvestable” under its existing legal and commercial framework, citing the company’s history of asset seizures and the need for stronger investment protections and changes to hydrocarbon laws.
However, during an energy conference in October, Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodríguez revealed that the government had signed 61 agreements under a revised hydrocarbon regulatory framework and was negotiating another 44 to attract investment into the sector.
The MoU comes as US President Donald Trump pushes American energy companies to help rebuild Venezuela’s petroleum sector through an estimated $100 billion investment.
Halliburton, one of the leading oil and gas service companies in the US, signed in September memoranda of understanding (MOUs) with Brazil’s Eneva and Venezuela’s WESCA to support energy development opportunities in Venezuela.
In addition, Chevron aims to expand oil and gas production in Venezuela, with a focus on the Ayacucho 8 block located south of its Petropiar project in Venezuela’s heavy-oil belt.