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As President Donald Trump vows to return U.S. energy investment to Venezuela, the Latin American country remains on the hook for billions of dollars owed to American energy companies following years-old legal battles over oil contracts.
Once a key supplier to global oil markets, Venezuela reshaped its relationship with international energy companies in the mid-2000s, as then-President Hugo Chávez tightened state control over the oil industry.
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A pump jack stands near an oil spill at a Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) facility in the Orinoco Belt of El Tigre, Venezuela.
Between 2004 and 2007, Chávez effectively forced foreign companies to renegotiate their contracts with the government. The new terms sharply reduced the role and profits of private firms while strengthening Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA).
The move drove some of the world’s largest oil companies out of the country.
ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips exited Venezuela in 2007 and later filed claims against the government in international arbitration courts. Those courts ultimately ruled in favor of the companies, ordering Venezuela to pay ConocoPhillips more than $10 billion and ExxonMobil more than $1 billion.
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Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world. (Carolina Cabral/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
While precise figures are difficult to verify since Venezuela has not published comprehensive debt statistics in years, the International Monetary Fund estimates the country’s economy will total about $82.8 billion in 2025.
Debt levels, however, stand at nearly 200% of that total, meaning Venezuela owes nearly two dollars for every dollar it produces.
On top of that, Venezuela has failed to repay about $60 billion in bonds, with total foreign debt rising to roughly $150 billion when loans from its top financial bankers, including Russia and China, are included.
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PDVSA also issued a bond that was supposed to be repaid in 2020, backed by a majority ownership stake in U.S.-based refiner Citgo as collateral. The state-run oil company later defaulted on that payment, putting Citgo in the legal crosshairs of creditors seeking to recover billions they are owed.
The cash-strapped country, which sits atop of the globe’s largest oil reserves, has paid only a fraction of those awards.
Chevron, however, remained in the country, becoming the only U.S. energy company still operating in Venezuela amid years of sanctions, economic collapse and political turmoil.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Chevron said the firm was following “relevant laws and regulations” but declined to comment on future investment plans in Venezuela.
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President Donald Trump addresses the nation following the U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. (Alex Brandon/AP)
“Chevron remains focused on the safety and well-being of our employees, as well as the integrity of our assets,” the statement added.
On Saturday, Trump told reporters at Mar-a-Lago that he wanted U.S. oil companies to “spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken oil infrastructure and start making money for the country.”
He added that the United States “built Venezuela’s oil industry with American talent, drive and skill,” and said that once the country’s energy sector is revived, the U.S. would sell that oil to markets around the world.
Venezuela’s heavy financial liabilities underscore the hurdles U.S. energy companies would face in committing new investment, despite Trump’s pledge to reengage.
