ExxonMobil has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA to explore potential upstream opportunities, opening the possibility of a return without committing the company to investment. Announcing the agreement on 9 November 2026, ExxonMobil did not identify the projects or areas it is evaluating.
The agreement is a preliminary step rather than a decision to resume oil exploration or production. ExxonMobil said it would need a final joint venture or production-sharing contract before participating in either activity, setting a clear distinction between discussions with PDVSA and an operational return.
The company also set out conditions for any future investment: “stable policies, clear regulations, strong investment protections and competitive returns,” requirements that place the terms of doing business at the centre of any further negotiations.
For international oil markets, the significance lies in the prospect of a major foreign producer re-entering Venezuela, rather than in any immediate addition to supply. No investment has been committed, and the memorandum does not establish when, or whether, exploration or production will begin.
A preliminary agreement
The signing ceremony was broadcast on state television, where interim President Delcy Rodríguez welcomed ExxonMobil back and expressed hope that the memorandum would soon lead to more. Her remarks signalled the administration’s interest in moving beyond the initial agreement, but did not change its non-binding status.
Upstream activity covers the search for oil and gas and their production. An agreement to explore opportunities in that part of the industry is therefore distinct from a commitment to develop a field, operate an existing project or finance production.
A joint venture would provide a framework for companies to participate together in a project. A production-sharing contract would set terms for participation and the allocation of production. ExxonMobil has said a final agreement of either kind is necessary before it takes part in exploration or production.
Neither the identity of a possible project nor the timetable for a final contract has been disclosed. That leaves the scope of ExxonMobil’s potential involvement unresolved, including whether negotiations will produce an investment proposal that meets the company’s stated requirements.
An unresolved history
The memorandum comes nearly two decades following ExxonMobil’s departure from Venezuela, when Hugo Chávez’s government expropriated its Cerro Negro and La Ceiba assets. The history gives particular importance to the company’s insistence on investment protections before committing new capital.
ExxonMobil held 41.67 per cent of Cerro Negro before its expropriation in 2007. That project is now known as Petromonagas. The company has not identified it, or any other specific asset, as a project being evaluated under the new memorandum.
An ICSID tribunal awarded ExxonMobil $1.6 billion plus interest in 2014 over the earlier dispute. Venezuela has challenged that award, which remains contested. The new agreement does not establish that the outstanding dispute has been settled.
Commercial talks and the contested award are separate issues. The memorandum records an intention to explore opportunities, while the earlier legal proceedings concern assets expropriated under a previous government. It would be premature to treat the signing as a resolution of that history.
Supply and political context
Venezuela’s interim administration is led by Rodríguez following Nicolás Maduro’s removal in a US raid in January 2026. The political setting is an important part of the context, but the memorandum itself offers no assurance that the legal or regulatory conditions for an investment have been resolved.
A substantive ExxonMobil return could provide a significant indication that Venezuela’s oil sector is reopening to foreign majors. For readers in Britain, the wider relevance is the potential effect on global heavy crude supply, not a direct London connection or an immediate change in fuel prices.
The development also matters to neighbouring Guyana as part of the wider regional oil picture. However, with no projects disclosed and no investment committed, the agreement does not yet provide a basis for establishing its practical consequences for either country.
The next substantive step would be a final joint venture or production-sharing contract, alongside conditions that satisfy ExxonMobil’s investment requirements. Until those terms are agreed and a project is identified, the memorandum remains a possible route back into Venezuela, not a confirmed return to production.
