Chevron Faces Tough Job Restarting Venezuela’s Damaged Oil Fields

Some analysts said Venezuela’s oil production could increase by about 400,000 barrels a day in a matter of months to a year. That isn’t nearly enough to offset up to 2 million barrels of daily production the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its Russia-led allies said they would cut Wednesday.

Venezuela is likely to hit a ceiling eventually of about 1 million barrels a day in the medium term, still well below production levels before the U.S. sanctions, said Fernando Ferreira, an analyst at Rapidan Energy.

“To get above that level would be challenging,” Mr. Ferreira said. “They’ll have to do a lot of refurbishing of the oil infrastructure, and that would require a lot of investment.”

The Biden administration is discussing a move to scale down sanctions on Venezuela’s regime provided that the authoritarian President Nicolás Maduro agrees to negotiate with the U.S.-backed opposition to organize free and fair presidential elections in 2024 and commits to other changes, according to people familiar with the matter.

Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, said it didn’t have plans to change the sanctions policy without constructive steps from the Maduro government. Chevron spokesman Ray Fohr didn’t comment on the challenges Chevron would face if sanctions were eased but said the company is in compliance with the current sanctions framework.

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