Chevron to boost Venezuela oil output

Chevron Corp‘s will begin a production increase phase to accelerate recovering debt owed by the OPEC member, according to informed sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

Chevron was granted an automatically renewing license in order to resume crude exports to the U.S. The oil giant has also signed an oil-for-debt swap with Venezuela’s PDVSA.

To repay a $3 billion debt, oil inventories have been used to supply exports to U.S. Following the reactivation of its four joint ventures with PDVSA, Chevron exported around 102,500 barrels per day (bpd).

The sources said Chevron plans to continue pushing its exploration operations mainly at oilfields in eastern and western Venezuela. Production plans include reaching crude production of 160,000 bpd this year, and about 200,000 bpd in 2024.

Venezuela’s oil ministry and PDVSA did not reply to a request for comment.