Venezuela News — Wall Street Lands In Caracas

The U.S.–Venezuela reopening picked up speed across oil, finance, and travel. ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips opened talks with Caracas about returning to Venezuela, while Centerview Partners landed the $150 billion sovereign debt-restructuring mandate. María Corina Machado said she will run again for president and return from exile by year-end. JetBlue announced Fort Lauderdale–Caracas service before the end of 2026, and a new Bloomberg poll showed most Venezuelans now back outright dollarization.

Energy Sector

Exxon and ConocoPhillips quietly push Caracas for contract safeguards before any return. Bloomberg reported May 26 that Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips, the two U.S. majors expropriated under Hugo Chávez, are in active but unannounced negotiations with the Delcy Rodríguez government over re-entering Venezuela. Both companies are pressing for durable production-sharing terms and a defined path to recover the billions of dollars still owed to them from the 2007 nationalization. An Exxon team has met with U.S. embassy officials in Caracas and held parallel talks with Venezuelan officials in Houston. The Trump administration is pushing both companies as part of a wider strategy to displace Russian, Chinese, and Iranian influence in Venezuelan crude. Bloomberg

Chevron CEO Mike Wirth said Venezuela must cut taxes and royalties before Chevron commits fresh capital. In a Bloomberg TV interview published May 29, Wirth said Chevron currently only reinvests revenue earned inside Venezuela under a U.S. Treasury-sanctioned program designed to recover debt from PDVSA. With oil trading around $100 a barrel over much of the past two months, that debt should be fully paid within a year. Wirth said Chevron aims to grow Venezuelan production roughly 50% over the next two years if fiscal terms are clarified, and confirmed Chevron has been meeting with the Delcy Rodríguez government alongside ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips. Bloomberg

Venezuela’s oil exports rose to 1.25 million barrels per day in May, third straight monthly increase

Reuters reported June 1, that Venezuela’s oil exports rose to 1.25 million barrels per day in May, 0.7% above April and 61% above the same month last year. The United States was the top destination at 558,000 barrels a day, followed by India at 427,000 and Europe at 169,000. Chevron’s direct shipments fell to 269,000 from 308,000 in April, while global traders Vitol and Trafigura raised their combined liftings to 787,000 from 691,000. Venezuela’s oil ministry has forecast year-end production of 1.37 million barrels per day. Reuters

Here's why the U.S. will keep buying Venezuelan crude. A widely circulated PetroleumAG analysis published May 27 argues that the U.S. need for Venezuelan crude is geological and logistical, not ideological. Gulf Coast refineries were built for heavy sour grades and depend on imports that match those specs. Caribbean routing requires roughly 5-day refining cycles versus 40 days from the Middle East, and U.S. Navy control of the route eliminates blockade risk. The author frames the current rapprochement as straightforward realpolitik rather than a reward. The piece names no specific U.S. refiners but cites Venezuela’s 303 billion-barrel certified reserve base as the gravitational pull. PetroleumAG

Economy

Centerview landed a $150bn mandate for Venezuela's debt restructuring
Eight people familiar with the hiring told reporters that Venezuela awarded Centerview Partners its $150 billion sovereign and PDVSA debt-restructuring role without a formal competitive process. The mandate is led by Matthieu Pigasse, the self-described pro-market socialist French banker who advised on the 2012 Greek restructuring and built a Caracas relationship through earlier Citgo-sale advisory work. Former Trump Latin America envoy Mauricio Claver-Carone is reported to have recommended Centerview to Delcy Rodríguez and consulted Treasury and State on the introduction. France 24

Most Venezuelans now back dollarization to break the 611% inflation spiral. A Bloomberg poll published May 28 found more than half of Venezuelans surveyed favor outright dollarization to rein in annual inflation that sat at 611.86% in April, down from 649.47% in March. The BCV has not endorsed full dollarization, and the official rate closed May at Bs. 549.37 per dollar — an 84% depreciation in four months. The poll lands while the central bank continues to flood the FX market with intervention dollars and as Centerview's debt mandate gets organized. Public opinion is moving faster than policy. Bloomberg

Politics

María Corina Machado will run again for president and return from exile before the end of 2026. In a May 23 interview, Machado said she intends to stand again and return to Venezuela before year-end, conditioned on a credible electoral calendar. The Nobel Peace laureate, who received the prize in Norway in December after eleven months in hiding in Venezuela, said proper democratic conditions would require seven to nine months of planning. She met opposition figures in Panama this week to coordinate a transition strategy. PBS News

Other Industries

JetBlue will fly Fort Lauderdale to Caracas before the end of 2026. JetBlue announced May 28 it intends to begin nonstop service between Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International (FLL) and Simón Bolívar International (CCS) before year-end — its first-ever Venezuela route. The carrier will operate the route on A320 aircraft, with tickets expected to go on sale in the coming months pending U.S. government approval and Venezuelan operational processes. Network VP Dave Jehn framed the route around South Florida's Venezuelan diaspora and reuniting families. The announcement is the first move into Venezuela by a major U.S. low-cost carrier and a clear signal that route economics in the corridor are now penciling out. JetBlue

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