Some Canadians ready to work in Venezuela’s oil fields – if they’re allowed

When news broke that U.S. forces had invaded and seized Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela earlier this month, Barry Blacklock’s phone started ringing.

The Calgarian lived in Venezuela for 17 years, becoming a permanent resident and working in the energy sector before leaving in 2009.

“That night I was getting emails from friends in Canada and since then, I’ve had 50, 60 different WhatsApp messages, emails, phone calls from people,” he said during a video call interview from Mexico.

Now he is helping to coordinate a group of companies willing to invest and bring equipment to Venezuela, where there could be huge demand for their services in the coming years. He organized a similar group in 2019, when it appeared a regime change might occur, although it never happened.

“Clearly, a change is coming. We’re not sure yet what it is,” said Blacklock, an entrepreneur with more than 40 years of experience in the international oil and gas sector.

Alberta has many oil workers and companies with experience from around the world. Recent interventions in Venezuela, as well as U.S. President Donald Trump’s announced plan to revive the country’s oil industry, are generating cautious enthusiasm among some in Alberta’s energy sector. But numerous challenges remain, including an unstable government and uncertainty about the level of US involvement.

a potential opportunity

Venezuela has the world’s largest proven crude oil reserves, estimated at 303 billion barrels. But its oil industry has been deprived of new investment, equipment and technology for two decades due to government corruption, hostility and state control.

“A lot of oil fields have been neglected. They’re not producing,” Blacklock said. “Equipment, wellheads, pumps – a lot of the equipment on the surface has been stolen or simply worn out, so it’s of no value. It all has to be replaced.”

There is a possibility of profit for foreign companies. This is especially true for Albertans, many of whom work with heavy oil similar to the crude found in Venezuela.

“In Canada, we have a huge capacity and potential to offer Venezuela all the technologies that have advanced significantly over the past few decades, but that Venezuela has missed,” said Amit Mankekar, who runs consulting companies in Canada and Colombia.

Adam Waters, Executive Chairman of Strathcona Resources, said: Reuters this week If asked, he would immediately assemble a technical team from his company, Canada’s fifth-largest oil producer, to go to Venezuela.

healthy hesitation

Any level of excitement about all the challenges of working in Venezuela comes with hesitation.

“What are the taxes going to be? What are the royalties going to be? Will it be fair and comparable with other jurisdictions in the world?” Blacklock said.

“Will Canadians be safe if they go there to work?”

Meanwhile, US sanctions remain in place, and it is unclear how open the US and Venezuelan governments will be in allowing Canadian companies to operate in the country – or how long the US will remain involved. Experts say that given the current state of the infrastructure, the reconstruction effort will take several years and billions of dollars.

Trump hosted about 20 executives from major oil companies at the White House last week and sought at least US$100 billion in oil industry spending for Venezuela. No Canadian companies existed.

The reaction was cool, as many officials expressed caution.

ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods said at the White House, “We have seized our assets there twice, and so you can imagine that to re-enter for a third time would require some significant changes given what we have seen historically and the situation that currently exists.”

“Today, it is not investable.”

‘The family you never see again’

Industry leaders say any foreign company, including the US, will need assurances of government stability, legal protections and certainty that contracts will be honored.

There will also be a need for security for the workforce.

“Venezuela doesn’t have laws that anyone can respect,” said Pedro Pereira-Almao, a former University of Calgary professor who describes the country as a failed state.

“How many Venezuelans are going to volunteer to go back there immediately to start working in a hostile environment?”

This is a question he himself is pondering. Pereira-Almao grew up in Venezuela and spent 14 years at Petroleos de Venezuela, SA, the state-owned oil and gas company, including as manager of heavy oil processing.

After Hugo Chávez came to power in 1999, he targeted the oil industry by nationalizing the assets of some foreign companies and firing thousands of workers – mainly management and technical specialists – at state-owned companies, including Pereira-Alamo in 2003.

“It was a tragedy for everybody,” he said emotionally as he described that period of his life.

“It’s hard to see people who worked with you get killed,” he said. “Friends and family you never see again.”

looking ahead

Before anyone goes to Venezuela, they must also receive political and economic support from the United States, Pereira-Almao said.

He is still in contact with former colleagues whom he could see playing some kind of role in Venezuela’s energy industry if the situation in the country improves.

“I won’t go before that,” he said. “Now I feel more confident that in a year or two, people, we can go to Venezuela and contribute.”

He would not move to Venezuela permanently, he said, but might collaborate with others.

“Do we need technology? What kind of technology? Who are the best providers?” he said, listing several other ways he can help as a chemical engineer.

Any increase in production by Venezuela, once one of the world’s largest oil producers, would likely compete with heavy oil exported from western Canada, particularly to refineries on the US Gulf Coast.

Over the past week, Canadian heavy oil prices have been trading at a large discount to North American prices because of that prospect, even though most of Alberta’s exports are destined for the U.S. Midwest, which experts say will be less affected.

This reality is not lost on Blacklock, who admits he has mixed feelings about the business opportunity for Alberta energy companies in Venezuela.

“Regardless, what happens when Venezuelan oil starts coming into the market, it’s going to impact Canadian industry,” he said.

“It could very well take away market share.”