Chevron CEO says Venezuela must do more for oil industry revival

[NEW YORK] Chevron CEO Mike Wirth said that changes to Venezuela’s oil policy are a sign of progress in trying to attract foreign investment, though further measures are needed.

“It moves things in a positive direction,” Wirth said on CBS’ Face the Nation. “It still needs some work. It’s probably not enough to bring in the level of investment that would be desirable. So I think there’s progress that’s been made.”

Wirth expressed confidence in the Trump administration’s Venezuela policy after the US toppled Nicolas Maduro in January and Delcy Rodríguez became the country’s acting president. Within weeks after Maduro’s capture, Venezuela changed its long-standing nationalist oil policy in a bid to entice investors.

A group of US oil executives who met Rodríguez in Caracas last week pressed for assurances that Venezuela was safe to invest in, a sign that interest among US oil companies is growing beyond Chevron and other majors as US President Donald Trump calls for a revival of production in Venezuela.

“An increase in production there would improve energy reliability and supplies in the United States,” Wirth said.

He said that Venezuela’s diminished oil workforce, with many skilled workers lost to emigration, makes any large-scale industry recovery dependent on whether expatriates return, a point also raised by opposition leader María Corina Machado.

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Wirth expressed a note of caution about Trump’s decision last week to invoke the Defense Production Act to provide federal funds for energy projects as his administration faces pressure to help rein in rising energy costs.

“You cannot turn on production at a moment’s notice,” he said. “It takes engineering, it takes supply chains, it takes contracts and workers moving and being mobilised.” BLOOMBERG