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Entrepreneurs expropriated in 2009 seek to resume operations in Venezuela
Venezuelan entrepreneurs whose oil services companies were expropriated in 2009 are asking the state to let them resume operations, according to AlbertoNews - Periodismo sin censura, on September 26, 2026.
Venezuelan entrepreneurs whose oil services companies were expropriated in 2009 are asking the state to let them resume operations, according to AlbertoNews - Periodismo sin censura, on September 26, 2026. The request coincides with the government's efforts to attract private capital to revive crude production in Lake Maracaibo.
The debate centers on the service infrastructure that supports extractive activity, such as docks, shipyards and maintenance vessels. After these companies were nationalized under the 2009 legislation, control of the assets passed to the state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). Reactivating these facilities now requires deciding who will finance the substantial investment needed to restore the infrastructure, and who will assume the liabilities accumulated during nearly two decades of state management.
One example of this situation is the dock of the Scionti family, founders of Costa Bolívar Construcciones C.A., which is now part of the orbit of PetroZamora. This joint venture is operated by North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP). Recently, NABEP announced an agreement with the United States that envisions a 100 billion dollar investment for the development of local reserves, according to data published by AlbertoNews - Periodismo sin censura.
The paralysis and fragmentation of these service companies directly affected employment in the region. At their peak, Costa Bolívar Construcciones C.A. generated thousands of direct and indirect jobs. Returning these assets, or granting operating permits to their former owners, aims to restore activity in workshops, concrete plants and docks that once drove the economy of the eastern shore of Lake Maracaibo.
In the coming months, the question will be whether the Ministry of Petroleum formalizes agreements that allow new international operators to coexist with the former owners of the service infrastructure.
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