Chevron plans to invest $7bn in Venezuela over the next five years as it targets more than a doubling of its oil production in the South American country to 600,000 barrels per day (bpd).

The US oil major said on September 2 that it had been awarded two additional fields in Venezuela’s Orinoco Belt, home to the bulk of the country’s vast extra-heavy crude reserves. Chevron currently produces about 280,000 bpd in Venezuela.

Under the new agreements, the company’s Petroindependencia joint venture with state-owned PDVSA will incorporate two adjoining areas in the Carabobo region of the Orinoco Belt.

Chevron said the agreements also provide improved fiscal, commercial and legal terms, although it did not disclose those terms.

Chevron currently participates in three Venezuelan joint ventures: Petroindependencia and Petropiar in the Orinoco Belt, and Petroboscán in Zulia state.

The announcement represents the first substantial, company-specific capital and production commitments emerging from Venezuela’s latest contractual overhaul.

Venezuela’s current oil output is around 1.25mn bpd, and Chevron’s current output is about 22% of that. Chevron’s planned 600,000 bpd output would be equivalent to nearly half today's national output—although Venezuela's overall production is expected to rise substantially over the same period.

Chevron’s expansion would deepen the company’s position in the country as Washington seeks to attract private investment to revive an oil industry hampered by years of underinvestment and deteriorating infrastructure.

The US company is currently the only US oil major producing 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 chief executive Mike Wirth said.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright was visiting Venezuela when Chevron made the announcement. He put Venezuela’s national production target at 2mn bpd by the end of 2030, an official goal, not an independently validated forecast.

Chevron’s announcement follows a series of moves by the Trump administration to increase US involvement in Venezuela’s key oil sector.

President Donald Trump announced on August 28 that the US had secured majority control over 65bn barrels of Venezuelan crude reserves, equivalent to roughly a fifth of the country’s estimated 303bn barrels.

Washington has separately also partnered with private oil company North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP), which has received concessions from Venezuela’s interim government covering 17 oilfields. NABEP has granted the US Defence Department a 35% equity interest.

The deals follow the US capture of former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro in January and Washington’s subsequent move to exert control over the country’s oil exports.

The US has worked with interim president Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s former vice president, as it seeks to restructure Venezuela’s ailing oil sector and bring in foreign capital.

Venezuela’s oil industry has suffered from many years of under-investment, corruption and crippling US sanctions.