Italy’s Eni to become exclusive operator of Venezuela’s Junín 5 field for 25 years

Eni will take exclusive control of Venezuela’s Junín 5 oil field for 25 years under a new production-sharing contract signed with state oil company PDVSA.

The Italian company said the contract, which can be extended, gives it full responsibility for the project’s technical, financial and commercial management. Junín 5 is an onshore heavy-crude field in the Orinoco Oil Belt, with 35 billion certified barrels of oil in place. Its current output stands at about 12,000 barrels per day.

The signing completes a process that began on April 28 with an agreement setting out the transition from Petrojunín, the former mixed company in which Eni held 40% and PDVSA held 60%. The new arrangement follows Venezuela’s Hydrocarbons Organic Law, approved by the National Assembly in January.

The agreement was signed in Caracas in the presence of Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Hydrocarbons Minister Paula Henao, PDVSA chief executive Héctor Obregón and Eni chief executive Claudio Descalzi.

Eni has operated in Venezuela since 1998 and holds six exploration and production licenses in the Gulf of Venezuela, the Gulf of Paria and the Orinoco Belt. In natural gas, it operates the offshore Perla field through Cardón IV, a joint venture equally owned with Spain’s Repsol. Eni said its attributable production in 2025 reached 64,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, mainly from Perla, which supplies about 35% of Venezuela’s total gas consumption.

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The CPPH, which has a term of 25 years with the possibility of extension, grants Eni exclusive operator status in the Junín 5 area, with full responsibility for the technical, financial and commercial management of the project.