Oil Service Giants Hire in Venezuela as Output Target Rises

Weatherford, Baker Hughes, Halliburton and SLB are all advertising jobs in Venezuela. That’s the clearest sign yet that private capital has started to follow a Washington-backed push to rebuild the country’s battered energy industry.

The hiring comes as U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration promotes a $100 billion oil revival plan, launched after the capture of then-President Nicolas Maduro in January. Announcements alone won’t move money. Major producers say they need political stability and clear legal rules before committing large sums.

The Hiring Wave

The service companies are moving first. They’re moving carefully, too. Weatherford, which cut back its Venezuelan presence in 2019, had at least 20 open positions, mostly in the oil and gas hubs of Anaco and Maturin, according to its careers website. First advertised the previous month, the jobs include operation supervisors, drilling specialists and engineers.

Baker Hughes listed a dozen openings in Maracaibo, Venezuela’s second-largest oil region. This month, it signed an agreement with state-run PDVSA, engineering firm Lindsayca and developer Fulcrum LNG to reactivate gas infrastructure. A Baker Hughes spokesperson said the company doesn’t comment on personnel.

SLB posted 35 vacancies in Anaco, Maturin and Caracas, with some dating back about six months. Halliburton said in early October it wanted to expand its talent network in Venezuela. SLB declined to comment, and Halliburton didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Starting From a Low Base

The rebuilding job is steep. After U.S. sanctions in 2019, most foreign oilfield service firms shut down or reduced operations in Venezuela. They laid off or transferred staff and pulled out equipment. Seven years on, the sector is starting over.

The numbers show how far there is to go. Baker Hughes data show only two drilling rigs active in Venezuela in October. North American Blue Energy Partners, a U.S.-backed company, said it received two drilling units the previous week. Chevron is expected to activate four soon.

Patterson-UTI, one of the largest U.S. land drilling contractors, is shipping components for 10 older rigs. CEO Andy Hendricks said the company hasn’t used that type in the United States for about 15 years. “It’ll be fine for Venezuela,” Hendricks said in an interview the previous week.

Private Contracts Lead the Way

So far, the deals are commercial arrangements, not government programs. A source said Weatherford was set to host a ceremony with Eni this month. Eni agreed with PDVSA in September to expand in Venezuela’s Orinoco Belt. The source said Eni has engaged Weatherford to help increase production. Weatherford and Eni didn’t respond to requests for comment.

A Cautious Forecast

Welligence Energy Analytics expects deployments through the end of 2027 to focus mostly on workover rigs, which reopen and repair wells at mature fields. Combined with expansion plans by major oil companies, that approach could lift crude output to about 1.5 million barrels per day by late 2027, up from about 1.2 million bpd at the time of the report.

That’s a gain of roughly 300,000 barrels a day. The firm isn’t promising it. “We are being cautiously optimistic,” said Andres Armijos, Welligence’s head for Latin America, referring to the investment plan and recent job postings. “In reality, this will take time.”

Why This Matters:

Venezuela’s energy industry is a test of whether private capital will rebuild what sanctions and mismanagement tore down. The early signals are real but modest: a handful of rigs, a few dozen job postings, and producers still waiting for political stability and clear legal rules. Companies are betting their own money and staff, which tells you more than any $100 billion headline figure. If the legal framework holds, the payoff could be a steadier supply of crude and a working energy sector in the Western Hemisphere. If it doesn’t, investors will have learned that government promises alone won’t secure their commitment. Either way, durable rules, not political announcements, will decide how fast Venezuela’s output grows.