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2026-09-21 19:06:12
[Venezuela Oil Deal Faces Challenges from Aging Oil Fields] ⑴ The success of the oil deal reached between the Trump administration and Venezuela hinges on aging, degraded, or costly-to-extract oil fields. ⑵ The agreement reached last month with energy tycoon Bertancourt covers 17 oil fields and grants the United States majority control over Venezuela's vast oil wealth. ⑶ Its North American Blue Energy Partners stated its goal is to more than double crude oil production within two years, an increase of approximately 300,000 barrels per day. ⑷ However, according to more than a dozen industry executives and analysts, achieving this goal will not be easy. ⑸ The names of these 17 oil fields have been confirmed by the media but have not yet been officially announced. ⑹ A few traditional oil fields in the Lake Maracaibo region of northwestern Venezuela, the birthplace of the country's oil industry, are most likely to achieve rapid production increases. ⑺ The remaining oil fields are located in the Orinoco Heavy Oil Belt in central-eastern Venezuela, a remote and difficult-to-drill area that produces bituminous heavy oil requiring specialized equipment for extraction. (8) Given that some institutions have previously pointed out that production capacity recovery may take 10 to 20 years, this agreement is unlikely to alleviate the global diesel and crude oil supply shortage in the short term.
