Repsol believes it could increase oil production in Venezuela by more than 50% in 12 months
There has been talk of a new bonanza coming from the country's vast oil reserves after the United States captured socialist Nicolás Maduro last month in a lightning military operation in Caracas.
Repsol
The head of Spanish energy giant Repsol said Thursday that his company could increase oil production in Venezuela by more than half over the next year after Washington reauthorized its operations there.
There has been talk of a new bonanza coming from the country's vast oil reserves after the U.S. captured socialist Nicolas Maduro last month in a lightning military operation in Caracas.
The new authorities, led by interim President Delcy Rodriguez, have reportedly cooperated with the Trump administration and introduced reforms to liberalize the sector.
After the U.S. granted licenses to Repsol and five other oil majors, the company's CEO Josu Jon Imaz said: "we are preparing everything to restart and resume our operations."
"We could be able to increase oil gross production in Venezuela by more than 50 percent over the next 12 months," he told a conference call with analysts.
"We have the ambition and we see plenty of room to get this target" of tripling production "within three years," Imaz added.
Venezuela has the world's largest proven oil reserves and its once thriving sector helped make it one of the richest countries in Latin America in the 20th century.
A crisis generated by the socialist regime
Speaking to AFP in Paris on Tuesday, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Venezuelan oil production was "a little bit less than a million barrels a day" in January.
But production could grow by 30% to 40% by the end of 2026. "That's a big deal," he said.
Imaz said "a new window of opportunity is opening for a better future" in Venezuela, where Repsol has operated since 1993.
LATEST
