It was very special to attend AAPG's Venezuela 2026 Technical Symposium and E&P Summit, held in The Woodlands, Texas on Monday and Tuesday.
“This is very personally emotional to me as a Venezuelan geologist,” said Ana Maria Goncalves, President-Elect, AAPG Latin America and Caribbean Region, at the event. “This is the first conference solely dedicated to Venezuela oil and gas opportunities in more than 10 years.”
Here are a few key takeaways from the conference, plus another exciting development in the energy world.
Shangyou Nie
Editor, Well Read
Key Takeaways from AAPG's Venezuela 2026 Technical Symposium and E&P Summit
Paula Henao, Minister of Hydrocarbons, Venezuela (center), Juan Francisco Arminio, AAPG Technical Symposium Chair (left); Ana Maria Goncalves (President-elect, AAPG Latin America and Caribbean Region), and Victor Vega (right) - AAPG E&P Summit Chair. Photography by Rodolfo Gonzalez Vidal
More than 300 people attended the historic conference, with special guests from Venezuela, including the Minister of Hydrocarbons Paula Henao, Jovanny Martinez, Vice President for Exploration and Production at PDVSA, and more than a dozen Venezuelan government and PDVSA representatives. Kyle Haustveit, Assistant Secretary for the U.S. Department of Energy's Hydrocarbons and Geothermal Energy Office, was also a featured speaker.
Event program:
Day 1 of the conference was dedicated to technical discussions on the geological evolution, exploration, and development potential of Venezuela, with some of the world’s leading experts on the Caribbean region and Venezuela speaking.
Day 2 focused on the business and commercial aspects of investing in Venezuela, with presenters from operating companies in Venezuela, as well as leading experts and scholars—all highlighting the opportunities and challenges ahead.
Who attended:
The Venezuelan delegation was led by Henao, who gave a special speech to welcome investors who could help her country realize its full oil and gas production potential.
Haustveit gave the opening remarks following a welcome speech by AAPG President Brian Horn.
Martinez spoke specifically on “opportunities for gas development in Venezuela.”
Four people from the Venezuelan embassy in Washington D.C., five people from PDVSA, and five people from the Ministry of Hydrocarbons attended the event.
What I Heard
From the DoE:
“The future of Venezuela is bright”—Kyle Haustveit, Assistant Secretary of the U.S. DoE's Hydrocarbons and Geothermal Energy Office,as he welcomed the delegates from Venezuela.
“For too long, I think we’ve segregated our countries in the Western Hemisphere by the type of energy they produce: U.S. shale, Canadian heavy oil, offshore Brazil, Venezuela's heavy oil…” Haustveit emphasized.
“But if we zoom out, and we look at strengthening the Western Hemisphere, we have all the resources, the people, the infrastructure, and the refining capacity to make the Western Hemisphere strong in the Americas—strong with energy security, strong with allies,” added Haustveit.
From the delegation from Venezuela:
“Thanks to the AAPG invitation and organization. We are very happy to be here. I believe that this is one of many meetings and projects that we will have with you (AAPG)”—Jovanny Martinez,Vice President for Exploration and Production, PDVSA
“Venezuela has 19 percent of the world’s total proven reserves, but we have only developed less than 20 percent”— Paula Henao, Minister of Hydrocarbons, Venezuela.
“On the issue of legal certainty—which I know many of you are looking for—the law incorporates all of that through dispute resolution mechanisms, not only within our national territory, but it also allows and opens the door for other venues to be used to resolve any disputes that may arise,” said Henao, as reported by Reuters.
From scholars and consultants:
“PDVSA is producing about one quarter of Venezuela’s production”—Dr. Francisco Monaldi, Director of the Latin America Energy Program at the Center of Energy Studies for Rice University's Baker Institute
“We should ask with all the oil reserves that Venezuela has, why is it that the country is only producing a little more than 1 million barrels of oil per day?”—Bob Fryklund, Vice President and Chief Strategist for the Upstream Energy Group, S&P Global
“Venezuela needs to balance current investment with long-term sustainability,”—Noble Pendergrass, Principal Economist, Americas, Wood Mackenzie
With the 2026 new Hydrocarbons Law, “Venezuela has shifted from one of the strictest to one of the world’s most adaptable (fiscal) regimes, globally,” —Ruaraidh Montgomery, Head of Energy Trends & Analytics, Welligence
“Gas is likely to play a domestic and regional role first, with the global impact to be realized later”—Rob Cordray, Partner and Managing Director, Americas, Rystad Energy
“Gas development is an enabler for regional energy security and economic recovery”—Oman Oquendo, President, Venezuelan-American Petroleum Association
“Venezuela could reach 8 million barrels of oil per day by 2040”—Tomas Mata, Production Teams Inc.
From operators and service companies:
“Venezuela is still immature for exploration, despite having a lot of proven heavy oil resources”—Francisco Pangaro, Senior Exploration Manager-Venezuela, Repsol
“One of the biggest challenges [for the industry] is the aging workforce for the companies, while young colleagues don’t yet have the experience”—Julien Van Lint, Subsurface Development Manager, Maurel Et Prom
“Offshore Venezuela is under-explored, with a diverse set of play types”—Raul Ysaccis, SLB
“The most immediate opportunity could be gas monetization through offshore facilities such as FLNG and FPSO,” Mario Tommaselli, CTO, Technip
Understanding the Conflict in Iran's Impact
Geopolitical tensions involving Iran are reshaping global energy strategy, regional alliances, and oil & gas markets in real time.
Join AAPG on 28 May for a webinar exploring the impact on Middle Eastern energy, global markets, OPEC dynamics, and the future of the region’s oil and gas industry.
Geothermal Producer Fervo Energy Goes Public with High Market Expectations
Fervo Cape Station Project/ Wikimedia Commons
Houston-based geothermal company Fervo Energy went public on 11 May to much market anticipation. The initial public offering drew ten times the subscribers, and the company’s stock price has grown more than 36 percent during its first week of trading.
More about the Fervo IPO:
Fervo Energy raised $1.89 billion through its IPO, more than 40 percent higher than its initial target.
According to its SEC filing, Fervo had a net loss of $70.5 million in 2025, with revenue of $138 million.
It is traded on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol FRVO.
J.P. Morgan, Bank of America, RBC, and Barclays acted as the joint bookrunning managers for the IPO.
Fervo Energy has a market cap of $7.7 billion based on the outstanding shares listed.
Fervo had targeted to raise $1.33 billion in its IPO.
According to Bloomberg, on the IPO day, the company sold 70 million shares for $27 each.
As of 19 May, FRVO was trading at $41.06, up 12.37 percent.
About Fervo’s Cape Station Project:
According to Bloomberg, Fervo’s Cape Station project in Utah will supply 500 megawatts of power, one of the world’s largest geothermal projects.
Fervo has the permit in Cape Station to develop an additional 1.5 gigawatts.
Fervo is expected to reach 100 megawatts of operating capacity by 2027.
In all, Fervo is in the advanced stage for 2.6 gigawatts of power development.
It has 38 gigawatts in early-stage development, making its geothermal portfolio one of the largest in the United States.
Current project costs are about $7,000 per kilowatt. Fervo hopes to reduce it to $3,000 per kilowatt in the long term.
Fervo has $7.2 billion in potential backlog of contracted revenue from future power purchase agreements.
About Fervo Energy:
Fervo Energy was founded in 2017 by Tim Latimer, current CEO, and Jack Norbeck, current CTO.
Fervo Energy sees itself as an energy company delivering 24/7 carbon-free power through the large-scale deployment of enhanced geothermal systems.
According to Fervo, its system works as “cold water is pumped underground, heated up by the Earth’s temperature, and brought back to the surface.”
Electricity is generated by its “Modern Organic Rankine Cycle” technology, with no carbon or other pollutants.
Fervo lists 34 partners, including Breakthrough Energy Ventures backed by Bill Gates, Devon Energy, BHP, SLB, the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Geological Survey, and Stanford, Princeton, and Rice universities.
The equity holding for each of the various partners is not released.
Big picture: Geothermal is one of the energy initiatives that has received bipartisan support in the United States. It is seen as a key additional energy supply source, especially in view of the fast-growing energy needs from data centers around America.
Geothermal is also viewed as an emerging direction for young geoscientists, as it requires training in geology, subsurface interpretation, and horizontal drilling.
Geothermal also needs strong landman skills to secure acreage.
The main challenge for geothermal is to lower the unit cost to a level that is competitive with other energy forms.
Want to help AAPG grow?
Consider supporting AAPG's free resources, like this one, by donating today.
AAPG thanks our advertisers for their support. Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content. Advertise with us.
.jpg?upscale=true&width=1120&upscale=true&name=Well-Read-Sign-Up-Ppt-Slide%20(7).jpg)
