Venezuela Oil & Gas Market Entry Checklist
Seven gates. Each one has an owner, and each one has a way of being skipped.
Use this as a gate review, not a to-do list. Each gate has an owner and a pass condition. The purpose is to make it visible when a gate is being passed on assumption rather than on evidence — which is where Venezuela entry programmes most often go wrong.
This checklist is written for the person who has to sign off. It is deliberately structured as gates with owners and pass conditions, because the failure pattern in Venezuela entry is not usually that a step was done badly — it is that a step was skipped by everyone who assumed someone else had it.
Gate 1 — Commercial premise
Owner: business development and commercial advisers.
Pass condition: the case is built on present operable capacity, not historical performance.
- The production or throughput assumption is tied to current condition, not a historical peak
- Capital and restoration estimates reflect an observed starting condition
- The operating cost base reflects the support burden the environment imposes
- The schedule reflects verified access and logistics, not mapped distance
- The counterparty's contribution to the case is specified and testable
- Sensitivity analysis identifies which operating inputs the return is most exposed to
Gate 2 — Legal, sanctions and compliance
Owner: qualified counsel and the compliance function.
Pass condition: written advice obtained before operational commitments are made.
- Current sanctions and licensing position confirmed with counsel and against OFAC directly
- Counterparty screening completed by the compliance function
- Export-control position on the equipment and technology involved
- Anti-bribery and anti-corruption controls specified for in-country activity
- Contracting structure and governing law settled
- Insurance position confirmed, including whether cover responds in country
Venezuela Field Support does not provide legal, tax, sanctions, export-control, or investment advice. This gate belongs to the client and its qualified advisers.
Gate 3 — Operational verification
Owner: independent field verification.
Pass condition: the assumptions the decision is most sensitive to have been physically checked and dated.
- An explicit assumption register exists, including the undocumented assumptions
- Assumptions ranked by consequence, not by ease of checking
- Site and facility condition observed and photographed
- Access corridor driven, with constraints and observed timings recorded
- Power supply and continuity established at the working locations
- Water, fuel, and telecommunications availability established
- Storage and staging options identified and assessed
- Items that could not be verified are recorded as accepted risk, not carried as fact
Gate 4 — Counterparty validation
Owner: independent diligence, with the compliance function.
Pass condition: capability claims tested against physical evidence, not against a capability statement.
- Corporate identity, registration, and standing confirmed
- Ownership and principals established, including layered structures
- Registered and operating addresses physically verified
- Premises, yard, and workshop observed
- Equipment claimed versus equipment present
- Workforce claimed versus workforce evident — including subcontracting
- References checked and their relationship to the counterparty established
- Adverse information reviewed and assessed for credibility
- Findings that raise legal or sanctions questions routed to counsel
Gate 5 — Personnel and duty of care
Owner: HSE and operations leadership.
Pass condition: the medical and evacuation plan has been tested against the roads that exist.
- Accommodation inspected in person, not booked from a listing
- Usable medical facilities identified with observable capability, not from a directory
- Actual travel time to each, by the available routes, recorded
- Casualty movement means and provider established
- Communications plan with redundancy where coverage fails
- Evacuation routes, staging, and documentation established
- Decision authority and evacuation triggers defined in advance
- Assistance and insurance providers briefed and their requirements met
- Journey management and rotation plan practical against observed timings
Gate 6 — Mobilization readiness
Owner: project team, with in-country support.
Pass condition: nothing critical is scheduled to be discovered on arrival.
- Mobilization sequence built backwards from the first working day
- Every dependency has a date and a named owner
- Local vendors validated, contracted, and confirmed ready — not merely identified
- Gateway selected against the actual cargo, and onward routing verified
- Staging and warehousing arranged
- Transport and drivers arranged before arrival
- Communications and medical arrangements tested, not assumed
- Contingency defined for each critical dependency
- A single accountable in-country point of contact identified
Gate 7 — Sustainment
Owner: operations, with ongoing in-country support.
Pass condition: support is contracted and supervised, not improvised.
- Water, waste, sanitation, and life support arrangements contracted
- Power continuity, generator servicing, and fuel resupply arranged
- Housekeeping, catering, and provisioning arranged
- Maintenance and minor repair capability in place
- Spares and consumables strategy built against observed lead times
- Rotation logistics and accommodation turnover established
- Recurring field reporting so head office sees condition, not assurances
- Alternates identified for any single point of failure
- Periodic re-verification scheduled for counterparties and conditions
In our experience the two gates most often passed on assumption are Gate 3 and Gate 5. Gate 3 gets skipped because it is nobody's default responsibility — commercial teams assume diligence covers it, diligence assumes operations covers it, and operations has not been brought in yet. Gate 5 gets skipped because a named assistance provider looks like a completed plan.
How to run the review
For each gate, ask two questions and write down the answers: what evidence supports the pass, and who produced it? A gate supported by a representation from a party with an interest in the outcome has not been passed — it has been deferred.
What remains uncertain
Gate 2 is the most time-sensitive item in this list: the Venezuela sanctions picture has been modified repeatedly and a position confirmed months ago should not be relied on. Gates 3 and 5 age with conditions on the ground. Gates 1, 4, 6, and 7 are more stable but should be revisited if the geography, counterparty, or scope changes.
Sources and further reading
- U.S. Department of the Treasury, OFAC — Venezuela-related sanctions
- U.S. Energy Information Administration — Venezuela country analysis
- U.S. Department of State — Venezuela travel advisory
Related capabilities
- Venezuela Entry Assessment — Gate 3, run properly
- Partner & Vendor Validation — Gate 4
- Medical & Evacuation Planning — Gate 5
- Mobilization Support — Gate 6
- Life Support & Facilities — Gate 7
Evaluating a Venezuela project?
Request an independent assessment. We will tell you which gates are being passed on assumption.