Soon after Saturday’s military raid in Caracas and the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, President Donald Trump said the U.S. will “run” Venezuela for the time being, and that U.S. oil companies will “spend billions of dollars” to fix the country’s oil infrastructure and presumably increase oil sales.
Many politicos assert that wresting access to Venezuela’s oil — the world’s largest reserves — from adversarial nations such as China and Russia is ultimately an advantage for the U.S. Trump’s actions drew praise from Sens. John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming.
Yet, the situation doesn’t immediately appear to be a windfall for Wyoming or its producers.
“I don’t know that many of the smaller or even intermediate-type companies are going to want to go down to Venezuela,” said Peter Wold, a partner in Casper-based Wold Oil Properties. “That would be a big jump.
“We would not be interested in doing that,” Wold added. “We have attempted international drilling and production, and it’s difficult. It takes a lot bigger company and deeper pockets than anything that we’ve got.”
More practically, Wold indicated, oil producers big and small rely on strong market prices and production fields where there’s political stability to ensure a return on investment. He agreed with recent assessments that it will take years to stabilize and significantly increase Venezuelan oil production. And if that happens, it may be to the detriment of Wyoming producers that provide a significant source of tax revenue in the state.
“I think any kind of increase in production [in Venezuela] is going to see a reduction in the price of crude oil, and that would impact Wyoming’s oil and gas producers,” Wold said.
A glut in global oil supply sapped U.S. market prices for much of 2025, according to federal sources, including a 15% drop in spot prices for Wyoming producers from October 2024 to October 2025, according to a University of Wyoming analysis.
“We’re getting close to marginal prices here where people are going to cut back on their drilling capitalization,” Wold said, noting that spot prices in the low $50 per barrel range gives many operators pause when it comes to coaxing production. The daily spot price that most Wyoming producers track stood at about $57 per barrel on Monday.
For now, oil market watchers are generally on edge as the aftermath of U.S. actions in Venezuela still plays out globally.
“Oil is a global commodity and, as such, any shock to the system will impact prices,” Petroleum Association of Wyoming Vice President and Director of Communications Ryan McConnaughey told WyoFile via email.
“It will likely take more than $100 billion in investment and 10 years of stability before we see much in increased oil exports from the South American country,” McConnaughey added. “We at PAW believe that the best case for national security, environmental responsibility and economic prosperity is to continue development of natural resources right here at home, regardless of external factors.”
Chevron is the only major U.S. producer active in Venezuela. While the company had been active in the Cowboy State for decades, it shed most of its assets here about 10 years ago. Two other global producers with historic ties to Wyoming, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips, mostly exited Venezuela under then-President Hugo Chavez, according to national reports. ExxonMobil operates the Shute Creek gas plant in western Wyoming, while ConocoPhillips has divested much of its Wyoming assets.
Though final calculations have not yet been tallied, Wyoming oil production was on track to total about 106 million barrels for 2025, likely securing a spot among the nation’s top 10 oil-producing states, according to state data. About 80% of the state’s oil production comes from the Powder River Basin in the northeast.
Venezuela produces about 1.1 million barrels a year. Like North Dakota in a day. Chevron? Like 150,000. A day. This is not putting any body ‘on edge’. Nothing will change overnight or anytime soon. That place is a mess. ExxonMobil is next door in Guyana pumping slightly more after several years of investing there. 2026 is forecast to have the cheapest gas since covid. I wish people could read, and not beleive total asinine b.s. from this government. No major us oil company is going down there. Trumbo talks like the us government owns these companies. We don’t. We never will.
My friends and I always argue about gasoline prices, they all say its because of trump and his policies ?? No not really, its the glut world wide you mention and adding Venezuelan oil to the mix adds more to the glut and will eventually drive prices further down I feel, producers have to make enough to stay in business, when prices are so low they cant make enough, smaller producers are affected most and will go out of business ! Not good for Wonderful Wyoming !