North America Oil Partners (NABEP) announced that the number of its drilling rigs in Venezuela will reach 41. This increase is part of a plan to build 60 drilling rigs that the company announced earlier this month. NABEP also reported that its oil production had reached 223,509 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed) as of October 19, up from about 200,000 boed in August.
Details of the Drilling Rigs
NABEP has 9 drilling rigs in Venezuela. Of these, three rigs are active in the Junín 10 block of the Orinoco belt, and three more will soon start operating in this area. The remaining three rigs are either being refurbished or relocated to new sites. Four additional drilling rigs, including H&P and NOV models from American manufacturers, are being shipped simultaneously from Houston, Brazil, and Colombia. The company also has 20 workover rigs in the country that help bring inactive and underperforming wells back into production. Of these, three rigs are stationed in Lake Maracaibo, 12 rigs in the Lagunillas and Bachacharo fields, and five rigs in the Orinoco belt. Additionally, 15 more workover rigs are being refurbished in Houston for the western part of Venezuela. NABEP has stated that all 35 workover rigs are in the process of receiving certification for Class 4, which is the most comprehensive level of rig inspection, before entering service.
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Investment and Production Strategy
Alexandro Betancourt, CEO of NABEP, stated: "We are investing in each of these rigs with the oil we produce. This is the investment strategy we have used over the past two years to grow production tenfold." He also added: "We are planning and investing in brownfield ready-to-work fields and challenging greenfields, and no company is better suited for this than us, who were born here and employ Venezuelan workers."
This is NABEP's second fleet update. In October, the company added 11 workover rigs of 550 horsepower and two drilling rigs of 1,500 horsepower. This development follows NABEP's agreement with the U.S. Departments of State and Defense in August to increase oil production in Venezuela. The first 1 million barrels of oil under this agreement arrived in Corpus Christi, Texas, on October 27, just days after U.S. State Department officials visited NABEP's operations in Venezuela. Other American contractors are also returning to the country; for example, Nabors Industries recently signed a multi-year contract to deploy a rig in Venezuela in early 2027.
NABEP has stated that it has increased its production from about 18,000 barrels per day to over 200,000 barrels per day over two years through an investment of nearly $1 billion from its own resources. The company also announced that it continues to reinvest hundreds of millions of dollars every month. NABEP, which has 5,000 employees and 10,000 contract workers in Venezuela, has stated that it holds the commercialization rights to over 65 billion barrels of P1 reserves in the country. The company has also planned to invest nearly $100 billion in production capacity and infrastructure, setting a short-term goal of producing over 1 million barrels per day.
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