The US Treasury Department could issue a sanctions-release notice within days, opening the door for other US companies to join Chevron in investing in Venezuela's oil and gas sector. However, political and legal changes in the country are necessary for those firms to resume operations, the American Petroleum Institute (API) told reporters Jan. 12.
Companies will require guarantees for the security of their workers and “significant policy changes” that address the “sanctity of contracts and the rule of law” within Venezuela, API President Mike Sommers said during a conference call. “We are confident that this administration can achieve these goals.”
Industry does not, however, require financial assistance from the government, just certainty that their investment is safe from political changes within the country, Sommers said.
In 2007, then-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez nationalized oil operations, forcing major companies like ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, Chevron, BP, Statoil (now Equinor), and Total (now TotalEnergies) to cede majority control to the state-owned PDV. ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips refused and left the country, leading to years of litigation. “The possibility of a similar fate if they decide to resume operations is a significant hurdle to many companies,” Sommers continued.
'Uninvestable'
Oil executives met with President Trump Jan. 9 to discuss the US industry managing Venezuela’s oil and gas development, production, and exports. Trump asked US oil companies to spend at least $100 billion, but some of the oil firms attending expressed trepidation.
After the meeting, Exxon Mobil Corp.'s CEO Darren Woods said, “We have had our assets seized there twice…so, you can imagine to re-enter a third time would require some pretty significant changes from what we've historically seen and what is currently the state."
"Today it's uninvestable," Woods added.
Venezuela sits on some of the largest oil reserves in the world, yet it produces less than the state of North Dakota. “That shows reserves alone do not produce energy,” Sommers said.
He said it was too early to speculate how long it could take US companies to rebuild Venezuela's oil sector and boost production. Even after concerns are addressed about worker safety and rule of law, American companies assess the economics of development before investing.
Where a company drills will affect those economics, he said. The Orinoco Belt is not an easy place to operate compared with Maracaibo basin, he noted.
Permitting reform
API, in the briefing, also outlined its priorities for the year. Sommers called permitting reform API’s “top legislative priority.”
The US House of Representatives passed the Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development (SPEED) Act on Dec. 19, 2025, that would simplify permitting by reducing duplicative, multiagency reviews, establishing firm timelines for agency reviews and updating processes for the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), critical industry-advocated reforms. The legislation still requires Senate passage, which is uncertain.
“The permitting system is broken,” Sommers said. Reforms are needed to ensure that the US can meet rising oil and gas demand and remain competitive with China in the artificial intelligence (AI) race, he added.
Sommers also noted that "many" of the rules written last year “will go final,” in the coming year, including the Interior Department's 5-year plan for federal oil and gas leasing, new access to offshore and federal lands, and several Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) initiatives to rollback regulations aimed at combatting climate change.
API is also looking for EPA to move forward to repeal the Endangerment Finding, a 2009 determination by the EPA that greenhouse gases threaten public health, Sommers said. The finding underpins federal regulations to curb CO2 and methane emissions. It could lead to the administration rescinding the EPA tailpipe rule, limiting carbon emissions from cars and trucks, and even the Corporate Average Fuel Economy program, established in 1975, to reduce US oil consumption by increasing vehicle fuel efficiency.
EPA sent the Endangerment Finding rule to the US Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on Jan. 7, 2026, and repeal is expected imminently. Environmental advocates and some states already have already vowed to file lawsuits if the finding is scrapped.
