Venezuela suspends 19 oil, gas production-sharing contracts signed under Maduro, reports say

Venezuela suspends 19 oil and gas contracts under Maduro, but output remains unaffected, as PDVSA continues crude sales.

Venezuela's Oil Ministry has suspended 19 oil ​production-sharing contracts with private companies signed under the administration of ⁠President Nicolas Maduro, four sources with knowledge of the move told Reuters on Thursday (February 26, 2026).

The suspension has had no impact on the country's oil and gas output so far, the ‌sources said. State oil giant PDVSA is selling the crude produced under the contracts while they are suspended, they added.

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Caracas and Washington ‌would review the contracts and may recommend revoking some of them, ‌the ⁠sources said. The Venezuelan and U.S. governments are reviewing the credentials ⁠of the companies that signed them, the sources added. Some of the companies are little-known and the deals were signed while Venezuela was under U.S. sanctions.

The contracts under review include projects that ​recently began producing oil in challenging ‌areas such as Lake Maracaibo, big ventures that aim to expand output in the Orinoco Belt, Venezuela's main oil region, and small mature oilfields.

Mr. Maduro's administration had little success securing investment through the production-sharing contract model as large ‌oil players rejected a return to Venezuela after expropriations or avoided ​doing business with it due to U.S. sanctions.