Venezuela oil expansion faces labour shortage as output push gathers pace

Traders Union
All News
Commodities
Venezuela oil output labour shortage

Highlights

Venezuela's oil sector faces acute labour shortages in mid-level and technical roles, with PDVSA engineers earning only $200 monthly versus $2,000–$5,000 in private or foreign roles.
Expansion plans and new investments, such as Chevron's $7bn project and North American Blue Energy Partners' 100-year concessions, are driving labour demand that outpaces local training capacity.
Long-term workforce gaps are exacerbated by decades of migration, mass firings, and recent jailing of 77 workers since 2024, undermining recruitment and sector recovery.

Workforce constraints challenge production plans

As reported by Financial Times, industry executives say low pay, migration and weak training pipelines are limiting the labour force needed to rebuild Venezuela’s oil sector and support higher production targets.

Alejandro Terán, president of the Latin American Association of Oil Entrepreneurs of Texas, says Venezuela would need to recover part of its expatriate workforce and train new staff if it is to move toward 3mn barrels per day. He says the biggest shortage is in mid-level and technical roles, the workers responsible for day-to-day operations.

Venezuela holds the world’s largest proven oil reserves, but output fell from more than 3mn barrels per day around the turn of the century to below 500,000 b/d in 2020, amid mismanagement, corruption and later U.S. sanctions. Production now stands at about 1mn b/d, while salaries remain a major obstacle to recruitment, with PDVSA engineers earning a base salary of about $200 a month, according to Terán, compared with $2,000 to $3,000 at private operators in Venezuela and about $5,000 for Venezuelans working in oil and gas in the U.S.

Gualberto Bello, a Venezuelan management consultant, says retraining workers from other industries or relying on AI will not close the human-capital gap. He argues the sector still needs experienced personnel for inspections, repairs, pipe-laying and welding, while Carlos Borges, an oil services executive, says there are effectively no human resources left in Zulia, once the heartland of the country’s oil industry.

New investments meet long-term capacity pressures

Recent deals and expansion plans are increasing demand for labour across the sector. In August, Washington and Caracas announced an agreement granting North American Blue Energy Partners 100-year concessions over 17 oilfields, while BP, Repsol and Eni have also announced plans to expand in Venezuela.

Chevron said in September that it would double production through a $7bn expansion, although a company official in Venezuela acknowledges difficulty finding skilled tradespeople, especially welders. The U.S. producer has set up vocational schools to train workers and says the industry needs not only geologists and geophysicists but also electricians, construction specialists and other trade labour.

Universities are not yet supplying enough specialists to meet demand. Julio Molina, dean of engineering at the Central University of Venezuela, says only four of 52 engineering graduates last month specialised in petroleum, although 125 students are now studying the field.

The shortage also reflects a deeper exodus from PDVSA over more than two decades. Many engineers left after 19,000 employees were fired in 2002-2003 following an anti-government strike, and former oil minister Rafael Ramírez estimates around 30,000 workers, employees and managers later left the company under Nicolás Maduro. Rights groups also say 77 workers have been jailed since 2024 on charges including smuggling, sabotage and corruption after demanding better pay and conditions, adding to concerns over whether expatriates will return.

Our earlier article on early-career job-hopping explained that changing jobs can be a major driver of wage growth and better long-term worker-role matches in the U.S. Drawing on economic research, it noted that frequent moves early on account for a large share of lifetime pay gains and can ultimately lead to more stable employment—contrasting with the cultural stigma often attached to short tenures.

This material may contain third-party opinions, none of the data and information on this webpage constitutes investment advice according to our Disclaimer. While we adhere to strict Editorial Integrity, this post may contain references to products from our partners.