US Signs Deals with Venezuelan Oil Companies Amid Production Growth Hopes

Venezuela's oil production has been on a downward trend since its peak in 1997, when it reached 3.5 million barrels per day under strongman dictator Hugo Chavez and jailed president Nicolas Maduro.

The country's oil production collapsed to under 1 million barrels per day in much of 2025 but has recently gone back above 1 million barrels a day.

The U.S. government, along with Italian energy giant ENI and private American companies like Aspect Energy, has signed deals with Venezuelan and Western oil companies to take a stake in a private operating oil company called North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP).

In exchange for this investment, the U.S. will trade it for future oil production.

The key point is whether these new investments will result in meaningful new production growth and if they can help Venezuela jump back to 2 million barrels per day of production relatively soon.