Chevron, Eni and GeoPark have announced agreements targeting the redevelopment of some of Venezuela’s largest heavy-oil resources, as the country seeks to revive production through revised contractual, fiscal and operating terms.
Chevron plans to invest more than $7 billion through its Venezuelan joint ventures over the next five years, with the aim of more than doubling their combined production to approximately 600,000 barrels per day.
Under the latest agreements, Chevron’s 49%-owned Petroindependencia joint venture has received development rights over the adjacent Carabobo 1 and Carabobo-2-South-A areas in the Orinoco Belt. The new acreage adds to an April agreement covering the Ayacucho 8 area next to the Petropiar joint venture.
Chevron said production from its three Venezuelan joint ventures had already increased by 15% during 2026. Chairman and CEO Mike Wirth said the revised terms and additional acreage could deliver “attractive low-cost oil growth”.
Eni has meanwhile signed a 25-year Hydrocarbon Productive Participation Contract with PDVSA for the Junín 5 field, also located in the Orinoco Belt.
The contract makes Eni the exclusive operator responsible for the technical, financial and commercial management of Junín 5. It replaces the previous Petrojunín joint-venture model, under which PDVSA held 60% and Eni 40%.
Junín 5 contains an estimated 35 billion barrels of certified oil in place but currently produces only around 12,000 barrels per day. Eni said the new operating structure would support the recovery of production from the super-giant heavy-oil field.
In a third major agreement, GeoPark will enter Venezuela as operator of the producing Bare Block under a 25-year Production Participation Contract with PDVSA Petróleo. GeoPark will fund all approved capital expenditure and hold a 65% net working interest. The block contains an estimated 15.7 billion barrels of original oil in place and around 1,100 existing wells. More than 700 million barrels have historically been produced, while current gross output is approximately 11,000 barrels per day. The proposed redevelopment could raise gross production to a peak of 85,000–95,000 barrels per day. GeoPark’s plan aims to increase the recovery factor from around 4–5% to 8–9%, delivering approximately 400 million barrels of cumulative net production to the company. The GeoPark agreement remains subject to regulatory approvals and sanctions-related compliance requirements. Completion would also see Grupo Gilinski become GeoPark’s controlling shareholder.
Together, the agreements represent a significant return of international capital and operatorship to Venezuela’s upstream sector. Their focus on mature, underdeveloped heavy-oil assets creates substantial requirements for reservoir characterisation, infill drilling, recovery optimisation and infrastructure rehabilitation across the Orinoco Belt.
