Venezuela's road to recovery

Internal politics and US sanctions have impacted the development of the Venezuelan upstream sector during the past several years. Specialized labor shortages, dilapidated infrastructure and lack of funding to new developments brought production to the lowest levels ever recorded. Despite this situation, if the existing sanctions are eased, investment in heavy oil projects can boost the production to 1.5 million b/d before the end of this decade. We investigate the evolving corporate players, fields driving the growth and look at the many risks and unknowns that make any Venezuela forecast wildly uncertain.