CARACAS, VENEZUELA (By Fabiola Zerpa, Bloomberg, 18.Sep.2026, Words: 395) — The veteran oil executive who oversaw Chevron Corp.‘s strategy to stay in Venezuela through years political turmoil says Caracas is now freezing him out.
Ali Moshiri, currently chief executive officer of Amos Global Energy, has lined up $2 billion from about 15 investors to plow into Venezuelan oil production and infrastructure as the Trump administration pushes for US companies to revive the nation’s energy sector. Yet state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, is moving at a glacial place with his proposals, he said in an interview.
“There’s no process — no sense of urgency,” said Moshiri, who is traveling to Caracas this weekend to push for a face-to-face meeting with PDVSA executives. “We are ready to fix something. It’s so critical.”
PDVSA and Venezuela’s oil and information ministries didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Moshiri, who ran Chevron’s Latin American operations until 2017, said he and his fund have been in talks with the Venezuelan government over deals since before US forces captured former President Nicolás Maduro in January.
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Moshiri’s team in Caracas has signed a memorandum of understanding for one of seven oil fields he’s interested in. Combined, he says the assets have potential to produce about 200,000 barrels a day of oil, or around 20% of the country’s current output.
Moshiri, who sponsors an annual golf tournament in Caracas, is also trying to negotiate for a contract to renovate Venezuela’s main oil exporting port on the Caribbean coast, which is he says is only 40% operational. He plans to spend up to $1bn on repairs at José Antonio Anzoátegui Oil and Petrochemical Industrial Complex.
“I have my anchor investors and $500mn that I can spend tomorrow. You’ve got to recognize I’m different than other companies because we’ve been evaluating Venezuela fields for 10 years,” said Moshiri, who also plans to try to meet with acting President Delcy RodrÃguez while in Caracas. “I don’t need a memorandum of understanding.”
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Moshiri credited the Trump administration for its initial efforts to stabilize Venezuela and helping create an environment that’s giving foreign corporations confidence to return. But he said the recent push for US companies to sign contracts is overly “opportunistic” and focuses too much on short-term gains instead crafting a broad, long-term plan for a lasting recovery.
Moshiri said rebuilding Venezuela’s economy will be “like lifting the Titanic from the bottom of the ocean” — requiring a tremendous amount of infrastructure, development and planning.
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Moshiri, who was born in Iran and graduated from the University of Tulsa, joined Chevron in 1978 and retired from the company in 2017. He was a key figure behind the company’s decision to remain in Venezuela in 2007 when then-President Hugo Chávez took control of major oil projects from foreign operators in the nation’s prolific Orinoco Belt, prompting ExxonMobil Holdings Corp., ConocoPhillips and others to leave.
Chevron is now Venezuela’s leading private-sector producer, poised to double its output there over the next five years.
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Moshiri said he doubted North American Blue Energy Partners — the company partnering with the US government to produce crude in Venezuela — has the capability to significantly lift output at the fields it holds.
“I really don’t believe they’ve got the capacity to be able to do what has played out in front of them,” Moshiri said. “This company never had an operational experience” and their 17 fields are “very, very complicated.
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North American Blue Energy Partners didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Moshiri isn’t interested in production-sharing deals like those signed by other producers, saying Venezuela could terminate them. Rather, he wants a joint venture with PDVSA, with contracts approved by lawmakers.
“Any opportunity that is awarded has to be competitive,” he said. “If it’s not competitive — it’s going to be challenging the future.”
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