Chevron will expand Venezuela operations, more than doubling production through $7 billion investment

JUST IN: Chevron to more than double its Venezuela oil production to 600,000 barrels per day through a $7 billion investment, after being assigned two additional Orinoco Belt oilfields.

Chevron is putting seven billion dollars into Venezuela and doubling down, literally.

The company says it will take production there from around 280 thousand barrels a day to 600 thousand over the next five years. Caracas has assigned it two additional oilfields in the Orinoco Belt, the region holding most of Venezuela's extra heavy crude, and you're looking at Chevron's operations now.

Remember, Chevron is the only US oil major still in the country, working through joint ventures with state-owned PDVSA. CEO Mike Wirth calls it low-cost oil growth with improved terms and long-term value. Translation, we got a better deal and more acreage, and we're taking it.

The part that would've sounded absurd two years ago is an American supermajor writing a seven billion dollar cheque to expand in Venezuela at all. Sanctions politics can flip with one election or one signature, and Chevron just bet seven billion dollars that it won't.

This is Sara White, reporting for HIT.