Michael Wirth CVX

Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Chevron Corp

Mike Wirth Discusses Chevron's Venezuela Operations and Energy Growth Plans

📅 Sep 02, 2026 Chevron 9 MIN 30269 VIEWS 44 SEGMENTS · 3 SPEAKERS

Chevron Chairman and CEO Mike Wirth joins CNBC's Brian Sullivan in Caracas to discuss Chevron's planned $7 billion investment in Venezuela over the next five years. Watch the conversation on production growth, energy security and Chevron's long-term approach to meeting global energy demand.

What Michael Wirth said

Written from the verified transcript and checked against it. Every figure links to the moment it was said.

Chevron CEO Mike Wirth announced a $7 billion investment across three joint ventures in Venezuela to triple production to over 600,000 barrels a day by 2031, separate from a U.S.-Venezuela deal. He noted production is currently slightly below 300,000 barrels a day and benefits from existing infrastructure in good condition, with cost per barrel under $20. Wirth credited new fiscal, commercial, and legal terms, including a new petroleum law and improved dispute resolution, making the investment competitive and accretive to free cash flow. He dismissed concerns about competing with U.S. production, emphasizing global markets and supply. He also reported Kazakhstan operations at full capacity, U.S. production at a record 2.1 million barrels per day, and said near-term gasoline price relief requires more supply, as new refineries take 5-7 years.

Key takeaways

Chevron will invest $7 billion in Venezuela over 5 years to triple production to over 600,000 barrels a day by 2031.
Chevron's cost per barrel in Venezuela will be less than $20, leveraging existing infrastructure.
Wirth confirmed the investment is accretive to free cash flow, with improved legal and fiscal terms.
Kazakhstan operations are at full capacity with pipelines and loading running well.
U.S. production hit a record 2.1 million barrels a day last quarter, over 50% of global production.

Numbers and commitments

Figure	What it refers to	Type	At
$7 billion	Investment across three joint ventures in Venezuela	commitment	37:51
600,000 barrels a day	Target production by 2031	guidance	37:51
less than $20	Cost per barrel in Venezuela	metric	40:18
2031	Year to reach 600,000 barrels a day	timeline	38:38
300,000 barrels a day	Production increase target over a few years	guidance	38:54
2.1 million barrels a day	U.S. production last quarter	metric	44:57
more than 50%	U.S. share of global production	metric	44:57
5 to 7 years	Time to build a new refinery	timeline	46:07

Questions asked in this interview

38:35And you expect to go to 600 by when?
38:38What are the conditions of the facilities there?
39:24Does it pay off for Chevron investors and shareholders?
40:16Can you tell us roughly what the cost per barrel is down here?
40:23How is the cost only $20 or under $20 a barrel?
42:35... you've heard it or seen it, Mike—that adding production here will be a competitor to Chevron and your competitors adding more production in the United States, we're going to sort of steal barrels from America by adding here. True or false?
44:15Can you give your investors who are watching right now an update on your operations in that part of the world?
45:07Will this help bring down gasoline prices in the United States?
46:04Why not build a new refinery right now?

Anchor 36:58 ↗

Let's get to Venezuela, where Chevron says it now plans to invest $7 billion to double production over the next 5 years. Our Brian Sullivan is in Caracas with Chevron's Mike Wirth. Morning, Brian.

Brian Sullivan 37:11 ↗

Hey, Carl. Yeah, we are here live in Caracas, Venezuela, where later today there will be a big signing at the Miraflores presidential palace. We will be there as well. But for now, we are with Mike Wirth. He is the CEO of Chevron. They have been here for over 100 years. And Jim and David and Carl, I know that you've spoken with Mike a number of times. You know the company. We're going to dig into what they're doing here because Mike Wirth—thank you very much, by the way. Appreciate you coming down.

Michael Wirth 37:34 ↗

It's great to be here with you.

Brian Sullivan 37:36 ↗

It's good to be here with you. And I want to make it clear, there is a U.S.-Venezuela deal that has been announced that will be further announced later today. You are not a part of that deal. What you are announcing today is separate and distinct from the U.S.-Venezuela partnership. Explain.

Michael Wirth 37:51 ↗

Well, Brian, as you said, we've been here for 100 years. We've been a part of Venezuela's past. We certainly are part of the present today—investing in the economy, growing production, creating jobs. And we've reached new agreements with the government to extend that investment, to increase our spending over the next 5 years through three joint ventures to $7 billion, to triple production from the year before President Trump came into office to over 600,000 barrels a day. And this is independent of any other announcements that we've seen here recently about—

Brian Sullivan 38:22 ↗

The $7 billion is across the three different joint ventures, so it's gross stuff.

Michael Wirth 38:25 ↗

Correct. That's 100% across the three ventures.

Brian Sullivan 38:28 ↗

And the 600,000 is—so I would assume you're around 300 today.

Michael Wirth 38:34 ↗

A little bit less than that.

Brian Sullivan 38:35 ↗

A little less than that. And you expect to go to 600 by when?

Michael Wirth 38:38 ↗

2031.

Brian Sullivan 38:38 ↗

Okay. Some would say, why can't Chevron or others advance production more quickly? Take us—we're here in Caracas. I've not been to Lake Maracaibo. I've not been to the Orinoco Belt where you're actually operating. What are the conditions of the facilities there?

Michael Wirth 38:54 ↗

Well, our facilities remain in, I would say, probably better condition than many in the country. Through these joint ventures, we've been able to do proper maintenance and maintain the integrity of the facilities. But growing production takes time. It takes money, it takes engineering, it takes supply chains. We need to bring rigs in from outside the country, and we're going to fund this within these ventures and grow steadily over time. 300,000 barrels over just a few years is actually a significant rate of growth in our industry.

Brian Sullivan 39:24 ↗

And then do the math for the investor that's watching right now. I know Jim Cramer, your friend, is actually probably watching right now doing the math in his head. A couple hundred thousand barrels a day, you're investing $7 billion. Does it pay off for Chevron investors and shareholders?

Michael Wirth 39:39 ↗

It absolutely does. And I think this is the big news: we've seen a significant change in the fiscal and commercial terms and the legal framework for investments in Venezuela. This has been negotiated over the last several months. There's a new petroleum law that's been put in place, and that has changed the taxes, the royalties, other terms around investment, and has taken this from not being very competitive within our set of alternatives to something that's very competitive versus our options around the world, which is why we're willing to commit significant capital and grow the way we are.

Brian Sullivan 40:11 ↗

So it will add to free cash flow.

Michael Wirth 40:13 ↗

This will be accretive to free cash flow, 100%.

Brian Sullivan 40:16 ↗

Can you tell us roughly what the cost per barrel is down here?

Michael Wirth 40:18 ↗

Cost per barrel will be less than $20.

Brian Sullivan 40:21 ↗

Less than 20?

Michael Wirth 40:23 ↗

Less than 20.

Brian Sullivan 40:23 ↗

How—my take is that this is a nation that had suffered from underinvestment, 3.5 million barrels a day down to 1.2, dilapidated conditions. How is the cost only $20 or under $20 a barrel?

22 more exchanges in this transcript

Cite this transcript

APA, MLA, BibTeX

APA

Wirth, M. (2026, September 2). Mike Wirth Discusses Chevron's Venezuela Operations and Energy Growth Plans [Interview transcript]. Chevron. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1313724/

MLA

Michael Wirth. "Mike Wirth Discusses Chevron's Venezuela Operations and Energy Growth Plans." Chevron, 2 Sep. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1313724/.

BibTeX

@misc{wirth2026_1313724,
  author       = {Michael Wirth},
  title        = {Mike Wirth Discusses Chevron's Venezuela Operations and Energy Growth Plans},
  howpublished = {Interview transcript, Chevron. CEOInterviews.AI},
  year         = {2026},
  month        = {sep},
  url          = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1313724/},
  note         = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}

▶

Key Quotes (2)

“We've been here for 100 years. We've been a part of Venezuela's past. We certainly are part of the present today. Investing in the economy, growing production, creating jobs. And we've reached new agreements with the government to extend that investment, to increase our spending over the next five years through three joint ventures to $7 billion to triple production from the year before President ”

▶ 37:51 POLICY

“I think this is the big news is we've seen a significant change in the fiscal and commercial terms and the legal framework for investments in Venezuela. This has been negotiated over the last several months. There's a new petroleum law that's been put in place, and that has changed the taxes, the royalties, other terms around investment, and has taken this from not being very competitive within ou”

▶ 39:41 POLICY

Mentioned in this interview

Venezuela: Country where Chevron operates joint ventures and plans investment.

U.S.-Venezuela deal: Separate deal announced later, not related to Chevron's investment.

Lake Maracaibo: Region mentioned as location of Chevron operations.

Orinoco Belt: Another region of operations.

Kazakhstan: Operations at full capacity with pipeline to Black Sea.

Russia: Ukraine conflict affecting energy markets.

Ukraine: War affecting energy markets and refining.

Middle East: Tight product market conditions due to situation there.

Earlier, on the same topics

“We've indicated we could go up close to 400,000 barrels a day by 2028 and potentially further. We're in discussions right now with the Venezuelan government about the ventures that we participate in, about the fiscal terms, the legal framework, and we're encouraged by the direction of travel. There'”

fiscal terms · Aug 05, 2026 at 4:57 →

“Dispute resolution that is durable and predictable. So access to international arbitration if if needed. And then as he said there are ranges on some of the fiscal terms that are relatively broad and at one end of the range you'd have investments that look attractive and another end of the range you”

fiscal terms · Mar 23, 2026 at 0:52 →

“I think permitting reform is a critical enabler of investment in all types including wind and solar and um nuclear and geothermal and traditional energy like oil and gas. Uh it's easy to stop projects from being built in this country today. Uh it's very difficult to get the permission to build it an”

Apr 26, 2026 at 15:13 →

“We've grown our production over the last couple of years from 50,000 barrels a day to 250,000 — 5x — and over the next 18 to 24 months we see the potential to grow by another 50%. It'll require some additional authorizations from the U.S. government.”

Feb 02, 2026 at 1:27 →

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About Michael Wirth

In September 2026, Chevron announced plans to invest $7 billion over five years through three joint ventures in Venezuela, with the stated goal of more than tripling production from levels seen before President Trump took office, to over 600,000 barrels per day. Wirth described the investment as a "win-win-win" for U.S. refiners, the Venezuelan economy, and regional energy security, and said the projects would be accretive to free cash flow with a cost per barrel under $20. He attributed the decision to changes in Venezuela's fiscal, commercial, and legal framework, including a new petroleum law and stronger dispute resolution provisions, while stating that Chevron's overall capital guidance to investors remained unchanged. Speaking at the Energy Intelligence Forum in October, Wirth discussed global energy markets and said that commercial inventories, strategic stocks, and sanctioned barrels had acted as buffers but had been drained, making the system more vulnerable. He opposed a potential U.S. diesel export ban, arguing it would remove supply from the global market and risk making the situation worse. On emissions, Wirth said Chevron had committed to net zero scope one and two emissions for its upstream business by 2050, noting that net zero means net of offsets and credits, and that some lower-carbon mechanisms were not growing as quickly as previously expected. He also emphasized that policy certainty matters for long-term investments and that companies must work with governments regardless of political cycles.

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