In the early hours of 3 January 2026, Venezuela’s president Nicholas Maduro and his wife Ceilia Flores were seized by U.S. special forces during a night-time raid and flown to the United States to face trial on charges of “narco-terrorism.”[1] Many, both inside and outside of Venezuela, have cautiously hailed this event as the dawn of a new era of openness and opportunity for the country’s markets. Investors are now looking toward Caracas with renewed interest.
Companies ranging from the Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) 100s all the way to smaller, entrepreneurial operators with a high risk tolerance are traveling to Venezuela, some for the first time, to assess the state and trajectory of its markets. Those new to the country and looking to invest report a sense of stability, particularly under the current regime led by interim President Delcy Rodriguez.[2] Some foreign companies have already taken advantage of this new environment—toward the end of April 2026, oil and gas multinational BP plc signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Venezuela to explore for gas in the Loran offshore area, marking BP’s return to the country.[3]
However, there are real concerns that Venezuela is still “uninvestable,” as recently described by U.S. energy company ExxonMobil.[4] Indeed, Venezuela continues to present real risks, most of which are structural. Venezuela’s judiciary is politicized, resulting in real political and legal risk for foreign investors. In the early 2000s, Canadian gold mining company Crystallex fell victim to this when the Las Cristinas gold mine, to which it held rights, was expropriated by the Venezuelan government following pressure to transfer assets to the state. Venezuelan courts upheld decisions that favored the government and failed to provide adequate compensation to Crystallex.[5] Other major foreign companies, including ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips, also suffered the same fate, particularly after the 2007 nationalization of the country’s oil reserves during the regime of Hugo Chavez.[6]
Elsewhere, bribery and corruption are endemic. There is further a considerable compliance burden placed on those who wish to do business in Venezuela, where anti-bribery, sanctions, and anti-money laundering laws and requirements must be met. Moreover, the country’s energy and logistical infrastructure is crumbling after years of neglect.
The concern, therefore, is that the increased rate of renewed interest in the country by foreign investors has grown faster than the required understanding of these risks. This renders the performance of robust due diligence a necessity.
Current Operating Environment
Konrad Petraitis, head of global risk at leading insurance intelligence provider AXCO, notes that investors have shown most interest in the traditional oil and gas regions, both in the Zulia region and the interior of Venezuela. This is closely followed by mining, as Venezuela is home to a mix of gold, diamonds, and rare earth minerals like coltan. Ores ranging from iron ore to bauxite are also readily available.
The concern with more traditional developments like oil and gas is that they tend to have accompanying sanctions or expropriation risks attached to them. Principally, these assets may have been previously appropriated by the government from foreign investors who may now seek to recoup these assets using legal mechanisms akin to the Helm-Burton Act of 1996, which allows U.S. nationals to sue foreign companies “trafficking” property confiscated by the Cuban government.
An area often overlooked by foreign investors is ancillary services associated with the oil and gas and mining industries. To explore a mine, it is essential to have water and energy infrastructure, logistical support, and, most importantly, security. According to Petraitis, these associated industries are seeing a boom in attention from foreign investors.
On 17 April 2026, President Rodriguez announced the signing of the new Organic Law of Mines bill, which will repeal a disastrous 2015 bill that granted the Venezuelan government exclusive ownership of the exploitation of gold and other strategic minerals.[7]
This new law seeks to put structures in place to allow for greater participation by private investors in the mining industry, and will further introduce appropriate dispute resolution mechanisms to reduce the risk to foreign investors.
Should investors be optimistic about this new law? Indeed, it is viewed by many observers as a good first step; however, investors will now likely be waiting to see tangible improvements in the operating and risk environment. Currently, the bill does not address concerns around political volatility and corruption or address the widespread organized criminal groups that operate in areas where these mining assets are located.
How to Mitigate These Risks
- Maintain a strong emphasis on sanctions compliance. Investors need to understand and comply with the various U.S. and international sanctions and licenses at play when doing business in Venezuela. Failure to comply comes with a heavy price—with real regulatory, enforcement, and reputational risks. The U.S. government has given broad authorization for Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PdVSA, to sell its oil to U.S. companies and on global markets. As noted in K2 Integrity’s January 2026 Venezuela update, U.S. “actions signal selective, tightly managed engagement—particularly in the energy sector”; however, “the broader sanctions framework remains firmly in place.”[8] K2 Integrity expert Mariano Federici observes that there still remains a core framework that blocks the ability to transact with individuals connected to the Venezuelan government. For example, Executive Order 13884 (5 August 2019), still prohibits all transactions and activities involving the Venezuelan government. This includes any property in which certain identified individuals have an interest.[9] With this in mind, investors should not assume broad sanctions relief.[10]
- Conduct enhanced network and business connection mapping. Performing such exercises with companies and/or individuals investors may seek to partner with in Venezuela will help to properly assess sanctions exposure. There does still remain a risk of inadvertently transacting with sanctioned Russian, Iranian, and Cuban entities when conducting business in Venezuela. Historically, President Maduro has maintained strong ties to Moscow, and Cuban companies have been known to support Venezuela in circumventing U.S. sanctions. Recent sanctions by the U.S. Treasury Department against the Cuban military-controlled enterprise, Grupo de Administracion Empresarial S.A. (GAESA), and the U.S. Department of Justice’s indictment of Raul Castro and five Castro regime members underscores increasing risks of exposure to the Cuban regime and economy. It is therefore essential to be cognizant of these types of direct and indirect sanctions and related risks and examine closely any counterparties who may have links to other sanctioned or indicted entities/individuals beyond Venezuela.[11]
- Conduct counterparty and operational due diligence. It is important to determine if potential counterparties have a proven track record, are politically exposed, or are connected to organized crime groups. Informal political influence, indirect control, and legacy corruption ties—mixed with lack of governance clarity in Caracas—are difficult to detect and easy to miss.[12] K2 Integrity’s Mariano Federici, a leading expert on anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing, notes that in both the energy and mining sectors, investors should be aware that risks not only lie with government officials, but also with professional intermediaries, lawyers, and accountants—it is possible for anyone to be connected with networks that have facilitated corruption and organized crime.
- Monitor government messaging. It is important to stay on top of what the Venezuelan government is saying and, more crucially, doing to support foreign investors. This will also apply to U.S. government messaging as the tenor of the relationship between the two countries, which is volatile, is paramount to the success of Venezuela’s markets. As noted in our October 2023 Venezuela Update, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued six licenses that allowed for previously prohibited transactions under the U.S. sanctions program against Venezuela.[13] These licenses provided partial relief to the oil and gas sector in Venezuela, gave authorization to deal with the state-owned gold mining company Minerven, and further gave authorization to transact with the Venezuelan state-owned airline Conviasa. However, less than a year later, in April 2024, the U.S. government reversed this relaxation in response to failures by representatives of Maduro to uphold commitments to work toward democratic elections. As noted in the update, this “demonstrated the dynamic nature of U.S. sanctions” and “the fragile nature of sanctions relief in particular.” It further underscored the variability and potential for change to the U.S.-Venezuela relationship.[14]
- Seek external advice. Seek the guidance of experienced advisors who have deep knowledge of the jurisdiction’s risk landscape. They can provide investors with geopolitical and operational risk advisory, political, and judicial guidance, as well as real-time enhanced monitoring of the ever-changing compliance and sanctions environment.
Conclusion
Petraitis, who is himself Venezuelan, is optimistic for the future of Venezuela and the prosperity of foreign investment in the country. However, he cautions that investors should be clear-eyed and properly assess their risk appetite before entering a market as volatile as Venezuela. His first piece of practical advice is “visit the country.” It is important to have a deep understanding of the operating environment and culture before making the jump to invest. Only through enhanced and nuanced due diligence can investors seek to gain that understanding.
K2 Integrity is well positioned to support firms considering exposure to Venezuela through tailored pre-investment due diligence and risk advisory services. Our teams in New York, Washington, D.C., London, Miami, and globally have advised financial institutions, corporations, and investors on sanctions, AML/CFT, corruption, and national security risk in Venezuela and comparable high‑risk jurisdictions.
Through a combination of geopolitical risk analysis, enhanced sanctions compliance, counterparty mapping, and ongoing monitoring, as well as payment and investment screening, we help clients assess whether and how to engage in environments as complex and volatile as Venezuela.
Contact our K2 Integrity experts to learn how we can support your compliance and risk management efforts.
[1] “Who Is Running Venezuela After US Forces Seized Maduro?” BBC News, 3 January 2026.
[2] “The Investors Moving Early Into Venezuela Are Bullish and Ready for Risk,” Wall Street Journal, 1 April 2026.
[3] “BP Signs Gas Exploration Deal with Venezuela,” Investing.com, 29 April 2026.
[4] “Our Perspective Regarding the Situation in Venezuela as Shared with President Trump,” ExxonMobil, 9 January 2026.
[5] Crystallex International Corporation v. Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Superior Court of Justice—Ontario, CV-16-11340-00CL, 20 July 2016.
[6] “Venezuela Seizes Foreign Oil Fields,” The Guardian, 2 May 2007.
[7] “Venezuela’s Acting President Signs New Mining Law to Attract More Investment, AA.com, 18 April 2026
[8] “Venezuela Update: Political Transition and Sanctions and AML Risk Overview,” K2 Integrity, 20 January 2026.
[9] Executive Order 13884 of August 5, 2019, “Blocking Property of the Government of Venezuela,” U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control, 5 August 2019.
[10] “Venezuela Update: Political Transition and Sanctions and AML Risk Overview,” K2 Integrity, 20 January 2026.
[11] “United States Eases Venezuela Sanctions Following Agreement Between Maduro Regime and Opposition,” K2 Integrity, 31 October 2023.
[12] “Venezuela Update: Political Transition and Sanctions and AML Risk Overview,” K2 Integrity, 20 January 2026.
[13] “United States Eases Venezuela Sanctions Following Agreement Between Maduro Regime and Opposition,” K2 Integrity, 31 October 2023.
[14] “U.S. Reversal of Venezuela Sanctions Relief: Status and Implications,” K2 Integrity, 25 April 2024.