exploration & production in latin america

Latin America’s ample resources offer the potential to help expand regional economies and meet the world's growing energy demand.

Chevron is helping develop these resources through our exploration and production operations in five countries. Our strong partnerships in the region are reinforced by our expertise in heavy oil production, enhanced oil recovery, deepwater operations, the exploration for and production of natural gas and shale oil and gas, and major capital project execution.

Our roots in Latin America date to the 1920s, when we began exploration in Venezuela, later discovering the giant Boscan Field west of Venezuela’s Lake Maracaibo, in 1946.

Today, we’re among the largest international oil companies in Venezuela, where we partner with the national oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA), on several projects. Other areas of exploration and production in Latin America are Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Suriname.

Argentina is a key country in our portfolio, with both conventional and unconventional oil and gas production. Chevron affiliates participate in two projects – a robust drilling program in the Loma Campana concession and exploration in the region’s Narambuena Block, both operated by YPF S.A. Chevron also has increased its owned and operated interest in the El Trapial concessions from 85 to 100 percent.

In Brazil, Chevron holds interests in eleven exploration blocks within the Campos and Santos basins covering a total of 824,000 net acres (3,300 sq km).

Chevron is working on innovative technologies to find, develop, produce, process, transport and deliver energy – safely, affordably, reliably and at scale. Many of those technologies are being deployed at our assets in Latin America.

In heavy oil recovery, we are developing ways to reduce the number and cost of injectors, reduce environmental impact, and help capture previously undevelopable reserves.

At the Huyapari Field in Venezuela, Chevron and partner PDVSA initiated the country’s first joint-venture cyclic steam stimulation enhanced oil recovery project, which is expected to increase production.

To develop unconventional resources in Argentina’s Vaca Muerta Shale, we’re gaining greater knowledge of the subsurface areas by using reservoir characterization models to view reservoir conditions and optimize production techniques.

And in other regions, our technological advantages include our ocean-bottom node and 4-D seismic, extended-reach drilling and completion technologies and our i-field^® – or digital oil field – solutions for better monitoring and managing production.

Cautionary Statement

For the latest figures, view the 2023 Supplement to the Annual Report.