The largest oil companies in the world, including Chevron, TotalEnergies, Exxon Mobil, Eni, and BP, did not increase drilling activities when crude prices broke above $100, but instead traded assets and made acquisitions in countries like Venezuela. During the past three weeks, Brent crude rose 3.4% to $101.21 and West Texas Intermediate rose 3.3% to $96.05 due to escalating tensions between the US and Iran in the Persian Gulf. The companies' decision to focus on asset trading rather than drilling was driven by a geopolitical crisis rather than a geological one, with the price of oil largely influenced by the conflict's impact on supply chains. Venezuela is seen as a key location for these majors, with three of them announcing expansion plans in the country within two weeks.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-11,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
The intuitive response to crude above $100 is to drill.
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response → drill → 100
That is not what the largest oil companies in the world did over the past three weeks.
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companies → do → weeks
With Brent closing at $101.21 on September 9, its highest since May 22, and West Texas Intermediate settling at $96.05, the supermajors spent the run-up trading assets rather than adding rigs: handing off operatorship of a multibillion-dollar liquefied natural gas project, swapping acreage, and, in three separate cases, buying deeper into a country most of them spent the last decade writing down.
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most → close → decade
Companies mentioned in today’s commentary include: Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX), TotalEnergies SE (NYSE: TTE), Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM), Eni S.p.A. (NYSE: E), and BP p.l.c. (NYSE: BP).
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Companies → mention → Corporation
Brent gained 3.4% on September 9 to $101.21 and WTI 3.3% to $96.05 as fighting between the United States and Iran escalated in the Persian Gulf.
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fighting → gain → Gulf
Roughly a fifth of the world’s crude normally transits the Strait of Hormuz.
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fifth → transit → Hormuz
- Consumers are already paying for it.
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Consumers → pay → it
U.S. gasoline hit a Labor Day record of $4.15 a gallon, and GasBuddy’s head of petroleum analysis said diesel was expected to reach $6 a gallon for the first time on record within days.
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diesel → hit → days
- The banks moved their numbers, but not as far as the tape.
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banks → move → tape
Goldman Sachs raised its Brent and WTI forecasts by $5 to $85 and $80 for December 2026, and warned Brent could exceed $120 in 2027 if Gulf output stays four million barrels a day below prewar levels, a scenario it does not treat as its base case.
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it → raise → case
Three of the five companies below announced Venezuelan expansions inside two weeks, following the U.S. Treasury’s issuance of Venezuela General License 50C on August 27.
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Three → announce → August
- Portfolio surgery beat capital expenditure.
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surgery → beat → expenditure
The single largest project decision of the period was an operatorship transfer rather than a new build, moving a long-delayed LNG development closer to a final investment decision without either party committing new drilling capital.
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party → move → capital
Why the Majors Are Not Drilling Their Way Out of This
A supply shock caused by a shipping chokepoint cannot be solved by a drill bit, at least not on any timeline that matters to the current price.
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that → drill → price
The barrels at risk are already in production; what is at risk is their ability to reach a buyer.
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is → reach → buyer
Adding rigs in West Texas does nothing about a tanker that cannot leave the Gulf, and the lag between a spud and first oil is measured in months against a conflict that has repriced the curve in days.
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that → add → days
That leaves the majors with a different question.
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That → leave → question
If the risk premium is durable, where should the portfolio be sitting when it unwinds, and where should it be sitting if it does not?
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it → sit → ?
The U.S. Energy Information Administration does not expect Middle East production to return to near pre-conflict levels until early 2027, and has Brent averaging $87 across 2026.
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Brent → expect → 2026
A forecast of that shape rewards barrels outside the Gulf, long-dated gas, and any resource that can be acquired rather than found.
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that → reward → Gulf
Venezuela fits all three descriptions, which is why the last fortnight looked the way it did.
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it → fit → descriptions
The companies below are referenced solely as market and sector context and as examples of disclosed corporate activity during the period.
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companies → reference → period
None is presented as a recommendation, and none is a comparable of any other.
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none → present → other
Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX)
Chevron announced agreements with Venezuela establishing updated terms for its joint ventures, including enhanced fiscal, commercial and legal provisions and additional acreage in the Orinoco Belt.
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Chevron → announce → Belt
The Petroindependencia joint venture, in which a Chevron subsidiary holds a 49% interest, was assigned rights to develop the adjacent Carabobo 1 and Carabobo-2-South-A areas.
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subsidiary → hold → areas
The joint ventures plan to invest more than $7 billion over five years and to more than double production to approximately 600,000 barrels a day compared with 2026, at total costs the company puts below $20 a barrel.
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company → plan → 20
Chairman and Chief Executive Mike Wirth framed it as a century-long position rather than an opportunistic one, saying the expanded footprint reflects confidence in the country’s resource potential and its ability to compete for investment within the portfolio for decades.
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footprint → frame → decades
The company’s three Venezuelan joint ventures have grown production 15% year to date.
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ventures → grow → date
It follows an April agreement that raised Chevron’s working interest in Petroindependencia to 49% and assigned the Ayacucho 8 area.
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that → follow → area
TotalEnergies SE (NYSE: TTE)
TotalEnergies transferred operatorship of the Papua LNG project to Exxon Mobil
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TotalEnergies → transfer → Mobil
agreed to sell a 9.1% interest to its project partners, moving a development that has slipped repeatedly a step closer to a final investment decision expected later this year.
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that → agree → decision
The company also cut the project’s estimated cost to $14 billion.
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company → cut → billion
Handing the operating role to a partner on a project of that size is an unusual move for a company of TotalEnergies’ standing, and it is the clearest single illustration of the theme running through this period: capital discipline expressed through who carries the project rather than through whether it proceeds.
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it → hand → project
Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM)
Exxon Mobil is the counterparty on the other side of that transfer, taking operatorship of Papua LNG and with it responsibility for delivering a project into a gas market that has spent the year being reshaped by the same Gulf disruption affecting crude.
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that → take → crude
Operatorship of a large, late-stage LNG development is among the harder positions to acquire in the industry, and acquiring one at the point where a final investment decision is in sight rather than years away removes a considerable amount of the schedule risk that usually attaches to these assets.
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that → acquire → assets
Eni S.p.A. (NYSE: E)
Eni became operator of a Venezuelan oil field described in industry reporting as holding some 35 billion barrels in place, extending a pattern that has defined the Italian major for several years: taking operating positions in resource-rich jurisdictions that larger peers have historically found politically difficult.
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peers → become → jurisdictions
The scale of a resource of that size is not the same thing as recoverable reserves, and heavy oil of that type carries development costs, upgrading requirements and offtake constraints that a barrel count does not convey.
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count → carry → that
What the move does establish is that the reopening of Venezuelan acreage is not a single-company phenomenon.
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reopening → establish → acreage
BP p.l.c. (NYSE: BP)
BP secured a Venezuelan offshore gas license in partnership with XRG, the international investment arm backed by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, adding a third major to the list of Western companies taking new Venezuelan positions in the same window.
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BP → secure → window
The gas focus distinguishes it.
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focus → distinguish → it
…and 45 more, not listed.
