HOUSTON — ExxonMobil said on Monday it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Venezuela's state-owned oil company PDVSA to evaluate potential upstream opportunities in the country, a non-binding first step that could return the largest US oil producer to Venezuela nearly two decades after it left when its assets were expropriated. The agreement was reported by Reuters from Houston on Monday.

Source: Reuters, Nov 9 2026

"This memorandum is a meaningful first step, but any future investment would require stable policies, clear regulations, strong investment protections and competitive returns," ExxonMobil said in a statement carried by Reuters. The company did not disclose which projects or oil areas it is evaluating, and a final contract for a joint venture or production-sharing agreement would be needed to confirm its participation in oil exploration or production in Venezuela.

Source: Reuters, Nov 9 2026

A return that was unthinkable for almost two decades

ExxonMobil exited Venezuela after the government of Hugo Chavez expropriated its assets, in the nationalisation wave that included its Cerro Negro heavy-oil project in 2007, according to earlier Reuters reporting on the company's return talks. For years the company treated Venezuela as closed ground; as recently as January its chief executive Darren Woods had called the country "uninvestable", saying its assets had been seized twice. Monday's signed memorandum — after months of reported negotiations in which Reuters said Exxon had shown interest in the Petromonagas heavy-oil project in the Orinoco Belt and areas in the neighbouring Carabobo block — is the first step the company itself has publicly confirmed. Those field names come from September reporting about the talks, not from Monday's disclosure: Exxon named no areas this time.

Source: Reuters, Nov 9 2026

Reuters described a development by Exxon as a win for US President Donald Trump, who has pushed to remake Venezuela's energy sector with US companies at the forefront during the country's US-backed transition. Exxon is not the first to sign paper this year: Continental Resources, founded by shale billionaire Harold Hamm, previously signed a memorandum with PDVSA to develop the Ayacucho 2 block in the Orinoco Belt, and TotalEnergies has also signed a preliminary memorandum with PDVSA, according to industry reporting on the earlier agreements. Venezuela holds the world's largest proven oil reserves, which is why the return of the biggest US major — even at memorandum stage — is watched by every energy market, including buyers in India that have taken Venezuelan crude.

Source: Reuters, Nov 9 2026

What happens next

The next steps are technical and legal, not ceremonial: Exxon's evaluation of upstream areas, and whether the two sides can turn a memorandum into a joint-venture or production-sharing contract with the protections Exxon has publicly demanded. For oil markets, even a slow Exxon return matters at the margin — Venezuelan heavy crude competes for the same complex refineries, including in India, that process Canadian and Middle Eastern grades — but Monday's paper changes no barrels yet: no area, no volume and no timeline was announced. Awaaz Punjab will report the contract stage, if it comes, as a separate development.