Venezuela Ends PDVSA's Oil Monopoly With Sweeping New Regulations

Venezuela's interim government published long-awaited oil regulations — the country's first comprehensive hydrocarbons rules since 1943 — formally ending PDVSA's decades-long operational monopoly across the industry. The new norms, which notably omit any mention of PDVSA, allow private companies to independently manage exploration, production, refining, marketing and distribution "from wellhead to fuel pump," under a tiered fiscal regime reflecting each asset's risk profile, from brownfield deposits to offshore projects. PDVSA had already ceded managerial control of production to Chevron and other operators beginning in 2022 — a shift consolidated by an earlier 2026 Chevron-PDVSA asset swap that raised Chevron's Petroindependencia stake to 49% — and the new framework significantly broadens private access to downstream refining and distribution as well.