Some of the United States’ largest oil and gas companies have been sitting out the growing lobbying wars over Venezuela’s resources.
ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips and Occidental Petroleum didn’t include Venezuela on their extensive lists of lobbying issues in their third-quarter lobbying disclosures, nearly a year after Trump pledged that “our giant oil companies will be spending at least $100 billion of their money.”
The exception is Chevron, which was already operating in Venezuela before the U.S. captured former President Nicolás Maduro. Chevron was among the three largest companies that listed Venezuela as one of many lobbying issues over the past several quarters, alongside Baker Hughes and Honeywell. Baker Hughes is an oil-field services company, and Honeywell is an industrial manufacturing company.
In place of the oil and gas giants, an increasing number of small and midsize companies spent millions of dollars this summer lobbying on Venezuela, with the majority of the money flowing through Trump-linked lobbying firms that have grown significantly since the beginning of his second term.
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After months of pressure from Trump administration officials and multiple visits to Venezuela by Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, the administration’s push to increase American investment in Venezuela has only secured a handful of larger commitments.
A few larger companies have signed memorandums of understanding to explore investment in the country and support development projects, including Halliburton and Baker Hughes. The two largest investment commitments so far have come from Chevron and the American government itself, which in August took a significant stake in the energy company owned by the Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt.
While large, permanent commitments from American companies are still scarce, interest in doing business in Venezuela is continuing to increase, especially from smaller companies. Venezuelan-affiliated companies are also starting to lobby in the U.S., according to lobbying records.
Between July and September, at least 15 of those smaller and midsize companies spent more than $2 million in total lobbying the federal government just on Venezuela issues, according to The Washington Sun’s analysis of the records.
Ballard Partners, a firm with deep ties to Trump administration officials, added three more clients this summer and fall lobbying exclusively on Venezuela, bringing its total list of new clients focused on Venezuela to at least seven since Maduro’s ouster. Micah Ketchel, the head of Ballard’s critical minerals division, left the Trump administration in the fall of 2025 after serving at both the State Department and as a Trump aide.
In July, Ballard opened an office in Caracas, and in September, Ballard added a Venezuelan oil-field services company called Servicios Petroleros del Sur, C.A. as a new client lobbying in the U.S., according to the lobbying disclosures.
Another of Ballard’s new clients is also tied to Venezuela: Calistoga Energy Reserves, a small, Texas-based oil and gas company that was purchased by the Brazilian company Alvorada this summer. Alvorada began expanding its Venezuelan operations after the U.S. eased sanctions this spring, Bloomberg reported, and Calistoga hired Ballard in early October.
Two more firms that have grown extensively over the course of the second Trump administration, Continental Strategy and Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, also brought in hundreds of thousands of dollars from energy companies lobbying exclusively on Venezuela in the third quarter.
Helmerich and Payne, one of the United States’ largest drilling companies, hired Continental Strategy in March to lobby the White House on “U.S. energy security and commercial engagement/compliance in Venezuela” and spent $135,000 with the firm in the third quarter. The drilling company is embroiled in a lawsuit against PDVSA, Venezuela’s state-owned oil and gas company, in an effort to try to force PDVSA to pay the company for expropriating its equipment and property in 2010.
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