In 2024, Venezuela’s oil ministry awarded exploration and production rights for 25 years at the former ConocoPhillips project, Petrolera Roraima, to A&B Investments, which is led by Jorge Silva Cardona, a business associate of the Batistas. After A&B joined the project, daily output grew to 32,000 barrels between June and October, but has since plunged as the Trump administration began blocking oil exports from the nation, one of the people said.