Chevron Steers Risky Path to Oil's Biggest Prize in Venezuela

The oil company could benefit from the showdown between Trump and Maduro — or get burned. 

An oil tanker anchored at the dock of an oil refinery on Dec. 18 in Puerto Cabello, Venezuela.

Photographer: Jesus Vargas/Getty Images

For almost two decades, oil giant Chevron Corp.’s stubborn persistence in Venezuela looked like folly: with billion-dollar investments constantly under threat from the tug-of-war between Caracas and Washington DC.

Now, however, that strategy has placed the world’s biggest petroleum prize within Chevron’s reach.