PDVSA Targets 105 Oil Contracts by Year-End: 61 Signed, 70% in New Fields, Output Goal of 1.5 Million bpd by Late 2027
CARACAS - Venezuela is looking to sign 105 oil contracts by the end of 2026, state oil company PDVSA's president Hector Obregon said at a business event panel in Caracas on Friday, October 9; 61 contracts have already been signed and 44 are pending, and about 70% of the planned deals cover new, greenfield oil fields. Reuters' report was widely published on October 10.
Obregon also laid out a production path: Venezuelan crude output, currently about 1.2 million barrels per day, is targeted to reach 1.5 million bpd by the close of 2027. On refining, PDVSA's plants are processing about 350,000 bpd - enough, he said, to supply the domestic gasoline market even as demand grows with the economy - with a goal of 500,000 to 600,000 bpd next year. He added that PDVSA is restarting the Cardon refinery after a fire earlier in the week.
Since the January ouster of President Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela has been reopening its energy sector to foreign investment with the backing of the U.S. administration, and mass contracting is the core mechanism of that opening. Beyond contract counts, industry executives identify unreliable power as the biggest obstacle to expansion - an unresolved electricity deficit above 1,500 megawatts - and several companies have proposed capturing flared gas for generation, though none have started.
For Venezuela's Chinese business community, the pace of the energy recovery directly shapes orders and payments in construction materials, logistics and retail. Contract signings toward the 105 target, refinery restarts such as Cardon, and progress on the power gap are three concrete indicators to watch over the next two months.
"The objective is to close 105 definitive contracts signed before December 2026," Obregon said. Acting President Delcy Rodríguez had previously told the Fedecámaras business federation assembly that PDVSA had signed 61 agreements covering oil, gas and petrochemicals.
Sources: Compiled from Reuters reporting of Obregon's October 9, 2026 remarks in Caracas, published October 10 via Reporter World News and other outlets, and Reuters industry reporting on the power deficit.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 油田里的抽油机（资料图），DeltaSquad833 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0（Wikimedia Commons）
