Chevron and Italy's Eni have agreed to expand their oil operations in Venezuela, just days after Venezuela and the United States struck a major oil deal. Opposition leader María Corina Machado has questioned the agreement's legitimacy.
Chevron is set to expand its operations in Venezuela days after the United States and Venezuela reached a major oil agreement, according to NPR. Chevron is the largest foreign oil operator in the country, and the deal will expand its footprint at a time of political and economic uncertainty for Venezuela.
The US energy firm was not alone in reaching new arrangements. Al Jazeera reported that both Chevron and Italy’s Eni signed deals in Caracas to expand oil projects. The agreements followed Venezuela’s decision to grant the United States control of a fifth of its oil reserves.
President Donald Trump described the wider agreement as “the biggest oil deal in world history,” according to The Guardian, which reported that he announced the deal with Venezuela’s interim government.
The agreement has drawn criticism from within Venezuela’s opposition. The Guardian reported that opposition leader María Corina Machado, a Nobel laureate, questioned the deal, saying the country’s natural resources do not belong to “an illegitimate regime.”
In her first public comments since Trump announced the deal, Machado argued that the interim government lacked a democratic mandate to negotiate on natural resources. The Guardian reported that she walked a diplomatic tightrope, challenging the agreement while trying not to rile the White House.
The expansions by Chevron and Eni signal foreign energy firms moving to deepen their involvement in Venezuela’s oil sector even as questions persist over the political legitimacy of the government that agreed to the terms.
Why it matters
Venezuela holds some of the world's largest oil reserves, so agreements granting the US and major energy firms greater access carry significant implications for global energy markets and geopolitics. The dispute over whether an interim government has the authority to strike such deals adds legal and political uncertainty to the arrangements.