Set to Exploit Venezuela Oil, Small Energy Company Has Unresolved Cleanup in California

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Previously unreported filings reveal years of disputes over well cleanup costs and whistleblower allegations against Pacific Coast Energy Co. (PCEC), an obscure California drilling company that has recently become a key player in Trump’s Venezuela oil takeover, according to a new report by Public Citizen.

Their PCEC’s role in Venezuela was brokered by Alejandro Betancourt, who despite years under investigations into misconduct across three continents has become a leading figure in the Trump administration’s plans for Venezuela. Prior to July, the small, Santa Barbara-based oil producer was primarily operating a shrinking cluster of aging California fields.

In July, PCEC announced it was close to finalizing a production-sharing agreement with Venezuela’s state oil company to develop fields in the Orinoco Belt region. The company said it had raised $800 million to fund its initial phase of operations, an unusually large amount, several times that of oil majors’ annual capital expenditures. Other than Chevron, which already has a major stake in the country and active operations there, most domestic and international oil and gas firms have decided to avoid investing in Venezuela for now.

According to the report, Trump’s Venezuela Deals Open the Door to a California Oil Company With a Troubled Past, PCEC is embroiled in a long-running dispute over the costs of abandoning its onshore California wells and its financial accounting. The report highlights one example of the highly unusual and often inexperienced set of corporate actors positioned to profit from the U.S. government’s intervention in Venezuela’s oil and gas industry.

“This small oil company has a dangerous track record in California, and lacks the experience of navigating international extraction projects,” said Lois Parshley, climate research director with Public Citizen’s Climate Program. “This history offers concrete examples of the deep concerns taxpayers should have about who Betancourt is working with, and the need for oversight of the companies rushing into Venezuela.”