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Business & Economy13 outlets ran this3 min read

ExxonMobil signs preliminary Venezuela oil deal

The agreement marks a potential return for the US energy giant after a 16-year absence.

AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made

Published
ExxonMobil signs preliminary Venezuela oil deal

What this story says

  • Venezuela and ExxonMobil signed a memorandum of understanding on November 10, 2026, to evaluate oil exploration and production.
  • The agreement is a preliminary step towards ExxonMobil's potential return to Venezuela after its departure in 2007.
  • Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela's interim president, and Dan Ammann, president of ExxonMobil Upstream, attended the signing.
  • ExxonMobil previously left Venezuela in 2007 following the nationalisation of its oil fields.

Who covered it

Left 14%(1)Centre 29%(2)Right 57%(4)

Percentages are shares of the 7 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 6 of the 13 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .

Trust

60/100

Craft

65/100

Hype

45/100

13 sources · methodology

Thin on the left so far

Only 1 of the 7 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated left.

This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.

Venezuela and the US energy company ExxonMobil signed a memorandum of understanding on November 10, 2026. The agreement is a preliminary step that could lead to ExxonMobil's return to the South American nation, from which it departed in 2007. The signing ceremony took place in Caracas and was attended by Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela's interim president, and Dan Ammann, president of ExxonMobil Upstream.

The memorandum covers the evaluation of oil exploration and production opportunities. ExxonMobil previously left Venezuela in 2007, along with other foreign companies, after then-president Hugo Chávez nationalised the remaining oil fields operated by the private sector. This new agreement follows months of negotiations, according to Rodríguez.

Disagreement on the date of signing

ExxonMobil stated that the memorandum of understanding was signed on Monday, November 9, 2026, according to reports from The Rio Times and Aporrea. However, Efecto Cocuyo, Clarin, Globo, El Carabobeño, and Reuters all reported the signing occurred on Monday, November 10, 2026. Prensa Latina also reported the signing occurred on November 9.

What the coverage left out

None of the left, centre, or right-rated reports mention the specific date of November 10, 2026, for the signing of the memorandum of understanding. While some reports indicate the signing occurred on a Monday, the precise date is not consistently stated across the evaluated coverage.

Tags:#ExxonMobil#Venezuela#OilAndGas#Energy#LatinAmerica

Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 2 times, most recently on 10 Nov 2026, 06:15, and will add the sides that appear.

How each side covered it

Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.

Left

1 rated outlet

  • The left-rated report from Efecto Cocuyo led with ExxonMobil signing a memorandum of understanding with Venezuela with a view to returning to the country. It stated that the agreement covers brownfield and greenfield sites with "billions of barrels of reserves." The report quoted Rodríguez saying the deal was "very important" and achieved after "months of negotiations for an effective return" of ExxonMobil. It also mentioned that following the capture of Nicolás Maduro in a US military intervention on January 3, President Donald Trump had been urging US energy companies to invest in Venezuela.

Centre

2 rated outlets

  • The centre-rated reports from Political Wire and Reuters both led with ExxonMobil striking a deal or signing a preliminary agreement to return to or assess oil opportunities in Venezuela. Political Wire cited the New York Times, stating Exxon Mobil reached a preliminary deal that brings it a step closer to returning. Reuters reported that ExxonMobil said it signed a memorandum of understanding with Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA to assess upstream oil opportunities, marking a potential return after its assets were expropriated nearly two decades prior.

Right

4 rated outlets

  • The right-rated reports from Clarin, Globo, The Rio Times, and Seeking Alpha all focused on the preliminary agreement between Venezuela and ExxonMobil for the company's potential return. Clarin and Globo highlighted the preliminary nature of the agreement after a 16-year absence. The Rio Times noted Exxon signed a non-binding memorandum with PDVSA to explore Venezuelan oil, its first formal step back after nearly two decades. Seeking Alpha's headline mentioned Exxon signing an MoU to explore oil opportunities in formerly 'uninvestable' Venezuela, referencing comments by CEO Darren Woods earlier in the year.

Questions about this coverage

How did the left and right cover ExxonMobil signs preliminary Venezuela oil deal?
Of the 7 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 14% are rated left, 29% are rated centre, 57% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 13. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
Is ExxonMobil signs preliminary Venezuela oil deal left or right?
Too few of the outlets on this story carry a published leaning rating to say. 7 of them do, and this site does not characterise a field under 12: at that size one newsroom filing moves the share by ten points. The percentages above are the count as it stands.
Is the coverage of ExxonMobil signs preliminary Venezuela oil deal biased?
ExxonMobil signs preliminary Venezuela oil deal is one event reported by 13 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
Which side is not reporting ExxonMobil signs preliminary Venezuela oil deal?
When we first saw this story, outlets rated left had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
Which outlets covered ExxonMobil signs preliminary Venezuela oil deal?
13 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
What is the significance of the agreement between Venezuela and ExxonMobil?
The agreement is a memorandum of understanding that serves as a preliminary step towards ExxonMobil's potential return to Venezuela. The US energy giant had previously left the country in 2007 after its oil fields were nationalised.
Who was present at the signing of the memorandum of understanding?
The signing ceremony was attended by Delcy Rodríguez, who is Venezuela's interim president, and Dan Ammann, the president of ExxonMobil Upstream. Their presence indicates the high-level nature of the preliminary agreement.
When did ExxonMobil last operate in Venezuela?
ExxonMobil departed from Venezuela in 2007. This was part of a broader trend of foreign companies leaving the country after then-president Hugo Chávez nationalised the remaining oil fields that were operated by the private sector.

Read it at the source

13 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.

Left

1

Centre

2

Right

4

Not rated

6

How did this read?

About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.

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