If you remember a few months ago, the US decided to arrest the President of Nicolas Maduro using the military blockade and special forces to bring him to a prison in New York. At the same time, the Deputy President was elevated to President, and her name is Delcy Rodriguez. No one quite understands why policies automatically changed, but in the intervening months they apparently have.

When Exxon CEO Darren Woods was in front of Congress, he said he would be willing to send in a team to evaluate the situation in Venezuela but he said at the present time it was uninvest able. Time has gone by.

In an article from the New York Times News Service, Exxon is in talks to acquire rights to produce oil in Venezuela for the first time in 2 decades. Exxon first enter the country in the 1940’s and its history includes its subsidiary being nationalized and essentially being kicked out of the country.

The deal could be finalized in a month or so, involves Exxon to produce oil in up to 6 fields in several regions of the country.

After Exxon left Venezuela, it moved to its neighbor Guyana where it has developed major oil fields offshore.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, the CEO of Exxon has said on numerous times that Exxon runs a very disciplined capital allocation program and they need a long-term commitment from the country where they do business. Long-term tends to mean through the electoral process of the country governments will and can change, but Exxon wants to do keep pumping oil no matter who is in power. It is hard to believe that regulatory infrastructure in Venezuela has change that much since the change in Presidency, but the opportunity to be the country maybe just too great not to be there.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.