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Market Chatter: Exxon Reportedly Eyes Return to Venezuela, NYT Reports

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Energy major Exxon (XOM) is in talks about a possible return to Venezuela nearly 20 years after the nationalization of its assets, the New York Times reported on Thursday, citing sources familiar with the talks.

The potential deal, which could be finalized and announced as early as this month, involves the energy major signing upstream contracts to extract crude across up to six separate fields spanning multiple regions.

The development marks a major pivot for the largest American energy firm, which just four months ago publicly declared Venezuela as "uninvestable" due to long-standing regulatory and expropriation risks, the report noted.

The operational rift dates back to 2007 when then-President Hugo Chavez nationalized multi-billion-dollar heavy oil projects in the Orinoco Belt.

Unlike industry peers who negotiated minority joint ventures with state-run PDVSA, Exxon refused compromise, exited the country, and launched protracted international arbitration battles that ultimately awarded the company roughly $1 billion in damages, a debt Venezuela's government has yet to fully settle.

None of the parties involved responded immediately to' request for comments.

Persistent security volatility in the Middle East has instilled a sense of urgency among Western oil majors to aggressively diversify upstream portfolios away from the oil-rich region.

(Market Chatter news is derived from conversations with market professionals globally. This information is believed to be from reliable sources but may include rumor and speculation. Accuracy is not guaranteed.)

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