Venezuela's long-anticipated oil revival is unfolding more slowly than many in Washington had expected, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Seven months after the removal of Nicolás Maduro, negotiations between Venezuela's interim government and major U.S. energy companies remain stalled. Despite the country holding the world's largest proven crude reserves — over 300 billion barrels, most of it extra-heavy oil in the Orinoco Belt — no landmark investment deals have materialized.

Rather than rushing back in, companies such as ExxonMobil and Chevron are proceeding with caution. Executives cite Venezuela's track record of nationalizing foreign assets, unresolved compensation disputes stemming from the Chávez-era expropriations, and persistent political uncertainty. Both ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips won multi-billion-dollar international arbitration awards against Venezuela over seized assets, and the resolution of those claims remains relevant to any new investment calculus. Francisco Monaldi of Rice University's Baker Institute summed up the hesitation: "They have been burned twice." That history makes corporate boards reluctant to greenlight multibillion-dollar projects unless the opportunity is exceptional.

The Wall Street Journal notes that competition has further complicated the talks. Multiple companies are vying for the same premium assets in the Orinoco Belt and Monagas state, while simultaneously pushing for more favorable terms on taxes, regulations, and ownership. The Orinoco Belt's extra-heavy crude requires specialized upgrading facilities to convert it into exportable grades — infrastructure that deteriorated sharply during years of underinvestment under PDVSA, the state oil company. José Ignacio Hernández of Aurora Macro Strategies described the gap between interest and action: "You have a very successful open house with 100 people attending, but then nobody calls."

Chevron has managed to boost production through operational improvements, raising output to nearly 300,000 barrels per day, yet it has held back from committing fresh billions to new development projects. ExxonMobil, meanwhile, has reportedly pared down its involvement after failing to secure a sufficient share of its desired assets and confronting the enormous costs of rehabilitating infrastructure that was previously nationalized.

Venezuela's overall oil production has risen to approximately 1.07 million barrels per day, compared with about 937,000 a year earlier — still a fraction of the roughly 3.5 million barrels per day the country produced at its late-1990s peak. Bridging that gap will require not just capital but years of sustained investment across fields, pipelines, upgraders, and export terminals.

With the major oil companies proceeding deliberately, the Trump administration has increasingly turned to smaller independent producers capable of moving more quickly and injecting immediate capital. Several privately held firms have already signed preliminary agreements. Analysts caution, however, that fully developing Venezuela's heavy-oil resources will ultimately demand the financial resources, extended investment timelines, and technical expertise that only the largest international oil companies possess. How Washington structures sanctions relief and legal protections for new investments — and whether the interim government can offer terms competitive with other resource-rich basins pursuing the same pool of capital — will likely shape the pace of any meaningful recovery.

Reported by ZeroHedge.