Chevron flies to Midland the week it expands Venezuela heavy oil holdings

Chevron flew from Sugar Land Regional Airport to Midland International Air and Space Port on Thursday afternoon, a one-hour-ten-minute hop aboard its Boeing Business Jet, N884GL. The flight arrived at 1:10 p.m. Central time, touching down in the heart of the Permian Basin — the company's most productive U.S. oil field, where Chevron has been running at record crude throughput.

The same week, Chevron announced a major asset swap with Venezuela's PDVSA, consolidating its heavy oil position in the Orinoco Belt, per a company press release. The deal gives Chevron an additional 13.21% working interest in the Petroindependencia joint venture and development rights to the adjacent Ayacucho 8 area. The trip also comes as Chevron's CEO Mike Wirth warned of looming physical oil shortages due to the Strait of Hormuz closure, as reported by Energy Connects, and as the company posted better-than-expected first-quarter earnings on a war-driven oil rally, per Bloomberg.

The Midland visit fits a pattern: Chevron's fleet has been shuttling between Houston, Denver, and the Permian repeatedly over the past week, with stops in Kansas City and Toronto along the way. The Boeing Business Jet typically handles senior leadership travel, and this week's itinerary suggests a focus on U.S. production operations even as the company navigates geopolitical turbulence abroad.