Chevron said on Wednesday that it plans to invest $7 billion in Venezuela over the next five years and double its oil production in the country after receiving additional acreage in the crude-rich Orinoco Belt region.

Chevron, the only U.S. oil company operating in Venezuela, said the investment will allow it to boost production to about 600,000 barrels a day, twice its current capacity, according to a statement. 

The announcement comes after President Trump announced a deal on Aug. 28 with Venezuela to create a private joint venture to operate oil fields containing 65 billion barrels of petroleum. Chevron said on Wednesday that it costs the company about $20 per barrel to produce oil in Venezuela.

“With improved terms and additional acreage, we are strengthening a portfolio that we believe can deliver attractive low-cost oil growth, support energy supply and create differentiated long-term value,” Chevron CEO Mike Wirth said in the statement.

Chevron said it has been assigned rights to develop the adjacent Carabobo 1 and Carabobo-2-South-A areas in the Orinoco Belt. 

Chevron officials and U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright are expected to visit Venezuela on Wednesday, where the new investment will be formally unveiled, according to a U.S. official. 

Chevron, the second-largest U.S. oil company, has operated in Venezuela since 1923. Its joint ventures Petroindependencia and Petropiar S.A. oversee extra-heavy oil projects in the Orinoco Oil Belt, while Petroboscan S.A. is located in the Zulia State in Western Venezuela.

Venezuela’s vast oil reserves

Venezuela holds the world’s largest proven oil reserves, which contain more than 303 billion barrels of crude oil, according to OPEC’s 2025 Annual Statistical Bulletin. Saudi Arabia is a distant second with 267 billion barrels.

Mr. Trump said the Venezuela deal will help lower U.S. gasoline prices, while also refilling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which has dropped to historically low levels. 

However, experts say it could take years for either goal to be reached because Venezuela’s oil industry suffers from years of neglect and needs billions in fresh investment. 

“Meaningful new barrels are years away: Much of Venezuelan oil is extra-heavy crude sitting behind decayed infrastructure, so significant output growth will require substantial investment and time,” Dan Alamariu, chief geopolitical strategist at investment advisory firm Alpine Macro, said in a research note.

The White House’s joint venture in Venezuela involves a private company called North American Blue Energy Partners, or NABEP, the White House said Monday. Under the agreement, the Venezuelan government granted the company 100-year concessions to drill in 17 oil fields that contain about 65 billion barrels, roughly one-fifth of Venezuela’s total proven oil reserves.

NABEP, run by Venezuelan executive Alejandro Betancourt, describes itself as Venezuela’s second-largest private oil producer, pumping more than 200,000 barrels of oil per day.