Caracas: US energy giant Chevron announced Wednesday that its Venezuelan joint ventures plan to invest more than $7 billion over the next five years, aiming to more than double oil production to approximately 600,000 barrels per day. Chevron said agreements reached with Venezuela established improved fiscal, commercial, and legal terms to support long-term investment, project development, and production growth.

According to Anadolu Agency, the company was also assigned additional acreage in the Orinoco Belt, where it already produces extra-heavy crude. "With improved terms and additional acreage, we are strengthening a portfolio that we believe can deliver attractive low-cost oil growth, support energy supply, and create differentiated long-term value," Chairman and CEO Mike Wirth said.

Chevron has stated that its Venezuelan operations had total costs of less than $20 per barrel. Under the agreements, the Petroindependencia joint venture, in which Chevron holds a 49% stake, received rights to develop the adjacent Carabobo-1 and Carabobo-2-South-A areas. This expansion follows an April agreement that increased Chevron's stake in Petroindependencia to 49% and granted it rights to develop the Ayacucho 8 area next to its Petropiar joint venture.

Production from Chevron's three Venezuelan joint ventures has risen 15% since the beginning of the year. The announcement comes in the wake of US President Donald Trump's unveiling of a separate deal giving Washington "majority control" over more than 65 billion barrels of proven Venezuelan oil reserves. Under that agreement, North American Blue Energy Partners received 100-year concessions covering 17 oilfields and plans to invest up to $100 billion in Venezuelan energy infrastructure.

The company granted the US government a 35% stake in its parent and the right to purchase 20% of production at cost, according to the White House. Chevron, whose presence in Venezuela dates back to 1923, is one of the country's leading private energy companies.