Chevron CEO says Venezuela oil output could rise 50% this year

Chevron Corp’s oil production in Venezuela has reached 100,000 barrels a day and could rise 50% this year, Chief Executive Officer Mike Wirth said in an earnings call Friday. 

The US oil major operates three projects in the country along with state-run Petroleos de Venezuela SA. Since US President Joe Biden eased sanctions on Venezuela last year, Chevron has started lifting so much crude from the country that it’s had to put 600,000 barrels of it in storage in the Bahamas this month. Chevron is also shipping some of the oil to its US refineries. 

But Wirth cautioned that the company’s operations in the sanctions-hit nation depend on waivers from the US government. “It’s not really a negotiation,” he said. “It’s their decision.”