Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) is nearing a preliminary deal to invest in Venezuela’s oil fields, the Wall Street Journal reported on 16 September 2026.
The talks would mark Exxon’s return to the country roughly 19 years after Venezuela nationalised its Cerro Negro project, an exit dated to 1 May 2007 in Exxon’s own SEC filing at the time.
Exxon Venezuela oil deal builds on months of talks
The WSJ’s account is not the first sign Exxon has been circling Venezuela. As early as May 2026, reports pointed to advanced talks over rights to up to six Venezuelan oil fields, according to Rio Times. Bloomberg reported in January 2026 that Exxon and ConocoPhillips were merely ‘examining what role they can play’, and by late that month Exxon and Chevron were described as ‘treading carefully’ given their disciplined capital spending, per Bloomberg.
President Trump has already said publicly that Exxon is ‘going in’ to Venezuela, framing it as a return after the company was forced out roughly two decades earlier, according to the Associated Press. Separate reporting from the New York Times, relayed by Quartz, has also described Exxon pursuing negotiations that could restore its production presence there.
Exxon was left out of Washington’s headline deal
What the WSJ describes appears to be a separate track from the Trump administration’s own headline Venezuela arrangement. Bloomberg reported in late August 2026 that the US government itself was negotiating to take a major stake in Venezuela’s oil fields. That publicised deal – covering 17 fields, an estimated 65 billion barrels and a 35% US stake over a 100-year lease – went to a separate private partner, and Exxon was not among the companies named as joining it, according to reporting citing the Journal.
That leaves Exxon negotiating its own re-entry on terms that have not been disclosed, roughly two decades after an arbitration dispute with Caracas over the nationalisation of its assets. No primary filing describing the current talks has appeared on EDGAR, and the WSJ’s sourcing remains the sole account of a preliminary deal being close.
Shares climb as earnings recover
Exxon shares closed at $163.98 as the story broke, up 0.12% on the day and 3.49% over 20 days, with volume 1.79 times the 20-day average, according to consolidated exchange data. The stock has traded in a 20-day range of $155.54 to $169.54.
The move comes as Exxon’s underlying earnings have strengthened. The company reported second-quarter 2026 net income of $14.525bn and diluted earnings per share of $3.48, up sharply from $7.082bn and $1.64 a year earlier, according to its 10-Q filed with the SEC on 3 August 2026. That improvement in cash generation gives Exxon more room to fund a return to a market it once exited abruptly, even as it weighs the political and legal risk of re-entering under a government it previously took to arbitration.
Positioning data show no sign traders were betting against the stock ahead of the report. FINRA’s daily short-sale ratio for Exxon held in a narrow 0.33 to 0.50 range through the first half of September, according to FINRA data, with no build-up in bearish activity around the WSJ story breaking.
Macro backdrop for capital allocation
The talks are also unfolding against a US rates backdrop that shapes how energy majors weigh large, long-dated capital commitments. The 10-year Treasury yield stood at 4.97% on 14 September 2026, against 4.65% on the 2-year, according to Federal Reserve data. The resulting 10-year/2-year spread of 0.33 points remains only modestly positive, a setting in which oil majors have generally favoured disciplined spending over speculative re-entries into higher-risk jurisdictions.
Exxon has not confirmed the terms, timing or scale of any Venezuela investment, and neither the company nor Venezuelan authorities have filed documentation describing the arrangement. Investors are likely to watch for confirmation in Exxon’s next quarterly filing or any formal announcement from Caracas, alongside signs of whether Washington’s own stake in the country’s oil fields complicates a parallel commercial deal for the supermajor.
This article is for information only and is not investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any asset. Markets move quickly; figures are correct as sourced at the time of writing. Always do your own research before making financial decisions.
