Chevron reacts to Trump's Venezuela plan
American oil company Chevron, which has been in Venezuela for nearly a century, responded in a Saturday statement to the Trump administration’s operations in the South American country, including the capture of President Nicolás Maduro, and President Donald Trump‘s announcement that the United States will be running it.
A Chevron spokesperson retracted an initial statement sent to Newsweek, writing Saturday afternoon that the company’s official statement is: “Chevron remains focused on the safety and wellbeing of our employees, as well as the integrity of our assets. We continue to operate in full compliance with all relevant laws and regulations.”
In a previous statement, the spokesperson said: “With more than a century in Venezuela, we support a peaceful, lawful transition that promotes stability and economic recovery,” adding, “We’re prepared to work constructively with the U.S. Government during this period, leveraging our experience and presence to strengthen U.S. energy security.”
Why It Matters
Venezuela has the largest known oil reserves in the world. Maduro had repeatedly said that Trump, through his military buildup in the region, was trying to seize the country’s oil and force him from office.
In a press conference on Saturday, Trump said the U.S. government will take control of the country and its massive oil reserves. The Trump administration struck Caracas in a “large scale strike” early Saturday morning and Maduro, along with his wife, was captured and taken out of Venezuela following the military operation.
Maduro, his wife, and his son have been formally indicted in the Southern District of New York, including on charges of narco-terrorism conspiracy, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said. Maduro had previously been indicted in March 2020 on “narco-terrorism” conspiracy charges in the same district, and in August 2025, the U.S. doubled its bounty to $50 million for information leading to his arrest. Maduro has denied any wrongdoing.
What To Know
The oil company says it works in partnership with “affiliates of Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), Venezuela’s National Oil Company, in five onshore and offshore production projects in Western and Eastern Venezuela, in compliance with applicable laws and regulations.” Chevron says it participates in projects across 74,000 oil and gas acres, according to its website.
In a Saturday press conference, Trump said the U.S. will run Venezuela and take control of its oil production, saying, “As everyone knows, the oil business in Venezuela has been a bust, a total bust for a long period of time.”
He added: “We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country.”
Trump said oil companies will directly pay for the cost of rebuilding Venezuela’s infrastructure, and “will be reimbursed for what they’re doing.”
Venezuela has the world’s largest proven crude oil reserves, but it produces only a small share of global output, something Trump wants to reconcile. Chevron previously told Newsweek it will work with the U.S. government during a transition period in an effort to “strengthen U.S. energy security,” but in an updated statement did not mention any collaboration or changes to its operations.
The U.S. has imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry and last year sanctioned an oil tanker off the country’s coast amid a pressure campaign. Despite sanctions, Chevron is the only major U.S. oil company still operating in the country, due to its license from the U.S. Treasury which allows it to produce and export Venezuelan oil under specific conditions.
The U.S. Treasury said in 2022 the license agreement and “authorization prevents PdVSA from receiving profits from the oil sales by Chevron.”
Chevron stock was up over 2 percent on Friday, at around $156 a share.