Chevron, ENI among firms set to sign energy pacts in Venezuela soon, sources say

Oil ‌producers Chevron, ENI and Colombia's Geopark, along with investors KEO Capital and Primavera are among the companies set to sign energy agreements in Venezuela as soon as Wednesday, three sources close to the preparations said. Most pacts imply project expansions that have been in negotiation with Venezuela's oil ministry and state oil company PDVSA as part ‌of the migration of dozens of energy contracts to new terms under a sweeping oil reform approved in January. They are not linked to ‌the recent Caracas-Washington deal that gives the U.S. access to 17 large oilfields.

Venezuela's oil production is roughly one-third of its peak of 3 million barrels per day in the late 1990s due to lack of investment, mismanagement and U.S. sanctions. Most oil majors have eschewed major investment in the country for years. U.S. oil major Chevron plans to invest more than $7 billion to ⁠more than ​double crude production in the OPEC ⁠country to about 600,000 barrels per day over the next five years, part of its strategy of expanding joint ventures with PDVSA, it said on Wednesday in a release.

KEO Capital said in ⁠a release last week that one of its U.S. subsidiaries had reached an agreement for the Petrourdaneta oil joint venture with PDVSA, following the approval of its board, turning ​the company into the project's operator and including a $350 million credit facility. ENI, which shares an offshore gas project with Repsol and a ⁠shallow water oil project with PDVSA, is seeking to expand oil operations in Venezuela through a new area in the Orinoco Belt, according to separate sources.

The company told Reuters last week it ⁠was ​working with its Venezuelan counterparties to "support the revitalization of the country's energy sector." It declined to provide details. Colombia-based Geopark declined comment.

Primavera, an energy firm co-founded by billionaire Fred Ehrsam to invest in Venezuela that has been negotiating at least three oil areas, could not be reached immediately for comment. Venezuela's ⁠oil minister Paula Henao and U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, who arrived in Caracas late on Tuesday, are expected to oversee the signing of ⁠the contracts, officials have said.

Other companies including ⁠India's ONGC and U.S.-based GE Vernova also have progressed in negotiations with Venezuelan authorities, which could soon lead to contracts, but those are not expected to be signed at the same event, separate sources said. ONGC and GE Vernova did ‌not reply to requests ‌for comment.