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Venezuela's state-run oil company PDVSA inked a new cooperation agreement Saturday with TotalEnergies E&P New Ventures, a subsidiary of French energy giant TotalEnergies.
Acting President Delcy Rodriguez oversaw the signing at Miraflores Palace in Caracas. PDVSA President Hector Obregon and Francisco Javier Rielo, TotalEnergies' senior vice president for the Americas, signed the agreement, according to the presidential press office.
The parties did not immediately disclose details of the projects, investment commitments or financial terms covered by the deal.
The agreement comes as TotalEnergies moves toward renewed commercial activity in Venezuela following its earlier exit from the country's oil industry.
In April, TotalEnergies said it was close to signing trading contracts with PDVSA as the two sides advanced negotiations. The company's Chief Financial Officer Jean-Pierre Sbraire said the arrangements involved Venezuelan heavy crude and a trading scheme built around flows from Venezuela to the U.S. Gulf Coast.
Part of the Venezuelan crude under those arrangements was expected to head to TotalEnergies' Port Arthur refinery in Texas. The facility has a crude processing capacity of 238,000 barrels per day, according to TotalEnergies.
The deal forms part of a broader push by Venezuela's new government to attract international capital and expertise into the country's energy sector following the U.S. capture of former President Nicolás Maduro in January.
In January, Rodriguez said a reform of the Organic Hydrocarbons Law would ease investment and strengthen legal security, with the National Assembly approving the changes later that month.
The government has since reached agreements with several multinational energy companies as it seeks to expand oil production and restore parts of the country's energy infrastructure, including deals with BP in April and Geopark in September.
The agreement follows less than a month after the U.S. and Venezuela announced a sweeping oil arrangement that Washington said gives the U.S. majority control over more than 65 billion barrels of proven Venezuelan oil reserves.
Under the agreement announced Aug. 31, Venezuelan interim authorities granted North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP) 100-year concessions for 17 oil fields holding approximately 65 billion barrels of proven reserves, according to the White House.
NABEP also granted the U.S. Department of War's Office of Strategic Capital a 35% equity stake in its corporate parent.
The White House said the U.S. Department of State would receive the right to purchase 20% of NABEP's oil output at production cost, along with a right of first refusal over the remaining 80%. It said NABEP planned to invest up to $100 billion in new Venezuelan oil infrastructure.
The U.S. government presented the agreement as part of a broader effort to increase Venezuelan production and channel additional crude through U.S. infrastructure. The White House said millions of barrels of new Venezuelan output were expected to be processed by U.S. refineries.
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