Venezuela recovery may take years as infrastructure and banking gaps persist

Venezuela’s oil sector offers long-term promise for drilling contractors, but years of infrastructure investment and policy fixes must come first, according to Joe Lillis, VP of Policy at IADC. In this video interview shot during the IADC Contracts and Risk Management Conference in Houston on 6 October, Mr Lillis noted how road systems, telecommunications and banking infrastructure in the country will all need substantial improvement before there will be meaningful oil production growth. In the near term, though, companies have been signing non-binding contracts and evaluating specific fields, which could potentially lead to firm investment decisions in the coming months. He also described his recent work educating members of Congress, the White House, the US Department of Energy and the US Department of the Interior on drillers’ views and concerns with Venezuela.