Venezuela’s Oil Ministry has suspended 19 oil ​production-sharing contracts with private companies signed under the administration of ⁠President Nicolas Maduro, four sources with knowledge of the move told Reuters on Thursday (February 26, 2026).

The suspension has had no impact on the country’s oil and gas output so far, the ‌sources said. State oil giant PDVSA is selling the crude produced under the contracts while they are suspended, they added.

Read | Are Indian firms intent on moving to Venezuelan oil? | Explained 

Caracas and Washington ‌would review the contracts and may recommend revoking some of them, ‌the ⁠sources said. The Venezuelan and U.S. governments are reviewing the credentials ⁠of the companies that signed them, the sources added. Some of the companies are little-known and the deals were signed while Venezuela was under U.S. sanctions.

The contracts under review include projects that ​recently began producing oil in challenging ‌areas such as Lake Maracaibo, big ventures that aim to expand output in the Orinoco Belt, Venezuela’s main oil region, and small mature oilfields.

Mr. Maduro’s administration had little success securing investment through the production-sharing contract model as large ‌oil players rejected a return to Venezuela after expropriations or avoided ​doing business with it due to U.S. sanctions.

The players that took on production-sharing contracts included Chinese, U.S., South American and Venezuelan ⁠firms, as well as some companies registered in tax haven countries, and some obtained contracts in multiple areas, according to a list seen by Reuters.

Some of the ‌companies also outsourced the oilfields to contractors, two of the sources said.

The United States captured Mr. Maduro in January and took control of Venezuela’s oil exports and sales. Since then, the U.S. Treasury Department has issued general licenses that allow companies to trade Venezuela’s oil and to operate in the country’s oil and gas sectors, but require specific clearance by the Treasury’s Office of Foreign ‌Assets Control.

Venezuela’s National Assembly passed a reform to the country’s hydrocarbon law in late January ​to facilitate foreign investment in the dilapidated oil industry. Under the reformed law, the government has six months to review existing contracts.

Venezuela’s ⁠ministries of oil and communications and the White House did not immediately reply to ⁠a request for comment.

The ministry and PDVSA are separately in talks with many of Venezuela’s traditional joint-venture partners, including Chevron, Repsol and ‌Maurel & Prom, to allow them to expand the oilfields already assigned to their projects, which could contribute to increased crude and gas output.

The story so far: Indian refiners have not been particularly enthused with the prospect of Venezuelan oil flowing into the global market following the U.S’ capture of Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro. Whilst announcing the trade agreement with India, U.S. President Donald Trump unilaterally mentioned that New Delhi had agreed to buy more crude from the U.S., potentially Venezuelan oil. However, the joint statement makes no such mention.

What are the concerns?

S. Bharathan, Director for Refiners at Hindustan Petroleum said that Venezuelan crude other than being bottom-heavy, also has high viscosity and a high acid number. Sanjay Khanna, Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Petroleum too had indicated that Venezuelan crude contains high metal and nitrogen content. He further stated that the crude would have to be co-blended with other lighter crude to the extent of 10-15% and then processed. For perspective, higher viscosity indicates a potential resistance to flow while a higher acid number indicates a higher chemical mix existing naturally in the oil.

Why is it a concern for any refinery?

Amit Priyadarshan, Chief Executive Officer of oilfield application and services provider Caliche, explained that pipes, bends, pressure vessels, outlets, inlets, valves and chokes in a refinery are designed based on a certain viscosity of crude oil. “Beyond which, it leads to complication in the process,” he stated, adding specifically with respect to viscosity, “In the flow [of crude oil in pipes and systems of a refinery], pressure gets built up.” Further, enumerating about the acidic number, Mr. Priyadarshan explained that a higher acidic number of the crude variant, beyond the threshold of the systems, would result in corroding. “It is not just one pipe but a huge system of pipes, vessels and much more, everything starts corroding if the threshold is breached,” he said. Anandh Mathew, the Group COO at Caliche, also pointed to refineries using catalysts and/or chemicals to process crude into final products as petrol and diesel among others. “Refineries procure these based on the type of crude it can process but if there is a different type of crude, it is not like you can go buy it from the market, the catalysts are used in thousands of tonnes each day,” he stated. According to Mr. Mathews, while recalibrating refineries may not be a particularly uphill task in terms of cost, it cannot be done overnight and the lack of additional storage capacity could be a constraint. He added certainty over the recalibrated setup’s utilisation in the future would be another essential concern.

Bloomberg reported that Reliance, India’s refining giant, “has taken one Very Large Crude Carrier with a cargo of around 2 million barrels”. Reliance’s Jamnagar can handle heavy and extra-heavy crude.

What next?

India’s Foreign Ministry has maintained that New Delhi “remains open to exploring the commercial merits of any crude supply option, including from Venezuela”. Speaking to the press on February 5, Randhir Jaiswal, official spokesperson at the ministry also pointed to Indian public sector entities of the oil and gas sector having established relationships with the Venezuelan state-owned PDVSA. “We were importing energy or crude oil from Venezuela till 2019-20 and thereafter we had to stop. Again, we started buying oil from Venezuela in 2023-24 which were halted because of re-imposition of sanctions,” he observed. For context, the South American nation’s share in India’s crude oil basket hovered between 10-13% until President Trump imposed sanctions during his first term at the Oval Office. Later, after New Delhi recommenced purchases, Venezuelan crude constitutes about 1-2% of India’s overall basket.

A potential determinant for higher Venezuelan uptake also entails political uncertainty. Mr. Trump’s actions have been condemned at the UNSC and by allies including the EU. This factor is important for considering any investment in Venezuela.

Further, another gauntlet could be its revival of supply. According to Fitch, while the Caracas holds 17% of global proven reserves, — the world’s largest oil, it produced only 0.8% of the global crude in November last year. “Venezuelan oil production dropped materially over the past 15 years – to 0.88MMbpd in 2024 from 2.5MMbpd in 2010 – due to sanctions and underinvestment,” the analysis read. Although, essential to note, according to a Reuters report, Indian Oil and Hindustan Petroleum have placed order for Venezuelan Merey crude, scheduled for delivery in April.

On the other hand, an SBI Research note held that India’s import fuel bill could decline by $3 billion should they move to Venezuela. This was however subject to Indian refiners being able to avail a $10-12 discount per barrel to make it economically viable. It specifically noted that shifting to the South American crude would be subject to multiple factors, including, domestic refining capacity alongside time and insurance cost of shipping which has “5-times for India in relation to the Middle East and two times from Russia”.

Venezuela’s government on Thursday (January 29, 2026) approved opening the nation’s oil sector to privatisation, reversing a tenet of the self-proclaimed socialist movement that has ruled the country for more than two decades.

The National Assembly approved the overhaul of the energy industry law less than a month after the brazen seizure of then-President Nicolas Maduro in a U.S. military attack in Venezuela’s capital.

Acting President Delcy Rodriguez then signed the reform into law shortly after, before a large group of state oil workers and government supporters.

As the Bill was being passed, the Treasury Department officially began to ease sanctions on Venezuelan oil that once crippled the industry and expanded the ability of U.S. energy companies to operate in the South American nation, the first step in plans outlined by Secretary of State Marco Rubio the day before.

Editorial | Pressure points: On Trump seeking Venezuela’s oil without costs of occupation

The moves by both governments on Thursday (January 29, 2026) are paving the way for yet another radical geopolitical and economic shift in Venezuela.

U.S. President Donald Trump urged Cuba on Sunday (January 11, 2026) to “make a deal” or face unspecified consequences, warning that the flow of Venezuelan oil and money to Havana would now stop.

“THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA – ZERO!” Trump said on his Truth Social channel. “I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.”

His remarks come a week after U.S. forces seized Venezuela’s authoritarian leader Nicolas Maduro in a nighttime operation in Caracas that killed dozens of Venezuelan and Cuban security forces.

Earlier on Sunday (January 11) Mr. Trump reposted a message suggesting that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio could become the President of now communist-ruled Cuba.

Mr. Trump shared that post with the comment: “Sounds good to me!”

In his own post soon afterwards, Mr. Trump said that “Cuba lived, for many years, on large amounts of OIL and MONEY from Venezuela. In return, Cuba provided ‘Security Services’ for the last two Venezuelan dictators, BUT NOT ANYMORE!”

“Most of those Cubans are DEAD from last week’s U.S.A. attack, and Venezuela doesn’t need protection anymore from the thugs and extortionists who held them hostage for so many years.”

Under a U.S. trade embargo, Havana since 2000 has increasingly relied on Venezuelan oil provided as part of a deal struck with Maduro’s predecessor Hugo Chavez.

The U.S. Coast ​Guard is pursuing an oil tanker in international waters near Venezuela, officials told Reuters on Sunday (December 21, 2025), ‌in what would be the second such operation this weekend and the third in less ​than two weeks if successful.

“The United States Coast Guard is in active pursuit of a sanctioned ‘dark fleet’ vessel that is part of Venezuela’s illegal sanctions evasion,” a U.S. official said. “It is flying a false flag and under a judicial seizure order.”

Another official said the tanker was under sanctions, but added that it had not been boarded so far and that interceptions can take different forms — including by sailing or flying close to vessels of concern.

The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, did not give a specific location for the operation ​or name the vessel being pursued. British maritime risk management group Vanguard, along with a U.S. maritime security ⁠source, identified the vessel as Bella 1, a very large crude oil carrier that was added last year to the sanctions list of the U.S. Treasury Department, which said the vessel has links to Iran.

Bella 1 was empty when it was approaching Venezuela on Sunday (December 21, 2025), according ​to TankerTrackers.com. The vessel had in 2021 ⁠provided transportation for Venezuela’s oil to China, according to internal documents from state-run oil company PDVSA. It had also previously carried Iranian crude, according to the vessel monitoring service.

Trump’s Pressure Campaign

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday (December 21, 2025).

U.S. President Donald Trump last week announced a “blockade” of all oil tankers ‌under sanctions entering and leaving Venezuela. Mr. Trump’s pressure campaign on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has included a ramped-up military ‌presence in the region and more than two dozen military strikes on vessels in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea near the South American nation. At least 100 people have ‍been killed in the attacks.

The Skipper, a very large crude carrier and the first Venezuela-related vessel seized by the U.S. on December 10, reached the Galveston Offshore Lightering Area near Houston on Sunday (December 21, 2025). Very large crude carriers cannot transit ‍the Houston ship channel, as the waterway is not deep enough, and typically transfer the oil on board to smaller tankers at GOLA.

The first two oil tankers seized were operating on the black market and providing oil to countries under sanctions, Kevin Hassett, director of the White House’s National Economic Council, said in a television interview on Sunday (December 21, 2025).

“And so I don’t think that people need to be worried here in the U.S. that the prices are going to go up because of these seizures of these ships,” Mr. Hassett said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” program. “There’s just a couple of them, and they were black market ships.” But analysts said the new seizures may push oil prices slightly higher when ⁠Asian trading resumes on Monday (December 22, 2025).

“We might see prices increasing modestly at the opening, considering market participants could see this as an escalation with more Venezuelan barrels at risk” because the tanker intercepted ​on Saturday (December 21, 2025) was not under U.S. sanctions, UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo said.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Wednesday (December 17, 2025) that the ⁠country’s oil trade will continue. But the new U.S. focus on oil tankers will raise geopolitical risks and probably hurt Venezuela’s oil revenue, analysts said.

The effects could be felt quickly as Venezuela’s export volumes fall significantly and oil storage tanks fill up faster, forcing the OPEC producer to cut output, said Francisco Monaldi, director of the Latin America Energy Program at Rice University’s Baker Institute.