How One Oil Company Got a Head Start in Venezuela
The Trump administration wants the oil majors to rebuild the nation’s energy industry. Chevron has been on the ground there for decades.
Photo Illustration: Christian Capestany
With Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro in a jail cell in New York, Donald Trump moved on to the next stage of his plan for the South American nation. The US president, having launched a surprise attack to capture Maduro, said he wants oil majors (and possibly US taxpayers) to invest billions of dollars in reviving Venezuela’s energy industry. Though it’s unclear what the companies will do, there’s one that’s already on the ground—and has been for a long time.
Houston-based Chevron has been operating in Venezuela in some form for almost a century. In recent decades it’s found itself caught in a tug-of-war between Washington and Caracas as authoritarian leader Hugo Chávez, and later Maduro, pushed back against US sanctions. Now it seems Chevron is in the catbird seat as Trump tries to take over the country’s energy industry. In this Bloomberg Originals weekly documentary, we explain Chevron’s history in Venezuela and what it may mean for Trump’s plan.