TotalEnergies not rushing back to Venezuela with $100 bln in investment needed, CEO says
By America Hernandez and Yousef Saba
ABU DHABI/PARIS, Jan 13 (Reuters) - TotalEnergies TTEF.PA is in no rush to return to Venezuela where doubling oil production could cost $100 billion, the French firm's chief executive said on Tuesday.
"People want to rush back, but it will require a clear framework to be able to invest there and it will take time," CEO Patrick Pouyanne said at Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week.
"Maybe you could easily add 100,000 or 200,000 barrels per day of additional production, but if you think about adding 1 million barrels per day, it will require $100 billion," he added.
U.S. President Donald Trump has urged U.S. energy firms to invest $100 billion to rebuild Venezuela's oil industry, after U.S. forces in an overnight raid on Caracas on January 3 removed the country's president from power.
Trump threatened to keep U.S. oil major Exxon XOM.N out of the country after CEO Darren Woods also voiced caution on Venezuela, calling the country "uninvestable".
TotalEnergies, which began operating in Venezuela in the 1990s, left in 2022 and unlike some U.S. peers, is not owed money there.
$100 BILLION TO BOOST OUTPUT
Pouyanne cited the high level of capital investment required to produce, dilute and transport Venezuela's heavy oil and to manage the associated greenhouse gas emissions.
Total held a 30% stake in a joint venture producing extra-heavy crude from Venezuela's Orinoco Belt, before ceding it to national company PDVSA in 2021 and taking a $1.38 billion write-down.
"We were obliged to leave because the safety conditions were not there ... so we'll look at it, we'll see, we are always evaluating, but it's not high on my agenda," he said.
"Of course, you have huge resources. It was producing in the past some three million barrels of oil per day, today it's less than one.
"Yes, we can come back to three, but it will take years. So I'm not convinced it will have a direct impact on the market in 2026," he added.
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