The Spanish petrochemical company Repsol is about to regain control of its oil operations in Venezuela, after reaching an agreement with the interim Government of Delcy Rodríguez, the British newspaper Financial Times (FT) reports this Thursday.
The Spanish group is expected to announce the agreement this Thursday, says the newspaper, which also indicates that what has been reached will include plans so that Repsol can triple its production in Venezuela in three years.
The agreement with the Venezuelan government includes a guaranteed payment system that will avoid previous problems, such as those in which Caracas did not pay, according to a source with knowledge of the agreement.
Repsol signed a pact with Venezuela in 2023 to continue operating its facilities in the country, but it expired when United States President Donald Trump revoked the license of Repsol and other Western companies to operate in Venezuela last year, as part of Washington’s efforts to pressure the regime of Nicolás Maduro, now detained in the United States.
The FT indicates that the agreement does not include a specific commitment by the Venezuelan government to reimburse approximately $4.55 billion, which Repsol claims is owed to it for unpaid natural gas and oil.
However, the payment guarantee that the deal does contemplate is intended to provide the company with the security that it will be paid for any production it supplies to the country in the future.
The deal, which also includes Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA, is part of U.S. efforts to rebuild the country’s oil industry after Maduro’s arrest in January.
The pact will be finalized after the one reached this week between Chevron and Caracas, which allows the American company to significantly expand its operations in the country.
Venezuela has large oil reserves and was a major crude producer in the 1990s, but mismanagement, corruption and US sanctions have caused production to fall to one million barrels a day, from a peak of about 3.5 million barrels a day, the FT notes.
Repsol, which began operating in Venezuela in 1993, is one of the largest foreign investors in the Latin American country, where it has a 40% stake in the Petroquiriquire oil field, while the rest belongs to PDVSA.
The field has three onshore oil fields that produce around 45,000 barrels per day. Repsol plans to increase production by 50% in 12 months and triple it in three years.
Already a fact
The Spanish energy company Repsol has signed an agreement with the Venezuelan Government and with the state company Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) that will allow it to regain control of operations and increase oil production at Petroquiriquire and guarantee payment mechanisms.
In this way, it is prepared to increase gross oil production in the country by 50% within a period of 12 months and triple it in the next three years, “if the necessary conditions continue to exist,” the company indicated this Thursday in a statement sent to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), the Spanish stock market supervisor.
This agreement, which is subject to compliance with conditions, will allow Petroquiriquire to increase oil production (60%, PDVSA; and 40%, Repsol), guarantee payment mechanisms and strengthen the operational framework of its activities in the country, under the framework agreement originally signed in 2023.
As indicated after the signing of the contract by the general director of Exploration and Production at Repsol, Francisco Gea, this agreement underlines the commitment of the Spanish company to Venezuela, where the group has operated uninterruptedly since 1993.
“We have the assets and technical, operational and human capabilities on the ground to increase our production in the country,” he reaffirmed in a statement.
