Venezuelan Oil Industry Expats Helped to Develop the Canadian Oilsands: A Missing Piece of the Story of Venezuelan Oil (as reported by Reuters)

     Having read and written about the history of Venezuelan oil development, I was surprised to learn that many of the PDVSA expats migrated to Canada after the strikes, where they utilized their expertise in working with heavy oil in the Orinoco Belt to help develop the Canadian oilsands. These oilsands are the biggest source of oil imported into the U.S. Canada is the world’s largest producer of heavy crude.

     A story in Reuters by Amanda Stephenson covers the human side of the story. Most of these people emigrated in the 2000s during the regime of Hugo Chavez. Most are over 55 and do not plan on returning to Venezuela. There are significant numbers of engineers, geologists, and other scientists, all with valuable skills. The cities of Calgary and Edmonton were destinations, as was Fort McMurray, nearer to operations. There are other oil and gas plays in Alberta as well.  

     Around 7,450 Venezuelans migrated to Canada between 2001 and 2010. Many were skilled oil industry workers. They have built successful lives in Canada. It was a talent exodus perpetrated by Chavez, and that loss of talent was a major contributing factor to the degradation of the country’s oil industry after they left.

     Lino Carrillo was recruited by Canada’s Suncor in 2004.

"People appreciated the Venezuelan knowledge," said Carrillo. "I believe Canada would have accomplished what it did with the development of the oil sands anyway, but what they did was they brought in people with 15, 20 years of experience and that helped shortcut the path."  

     More recently, Carillo has worked on opposition party leader Maria Machado's energy platform. He also says many Venezuelans won’t go back.

"Venezuelan expats have lots of conversations about 'will they go back, how can they help their country recover,'" said Pereira. "But it's two generations that have passed now, and the ones that have expertise, most of them are at least 55 years old."

     For more details, see the Reuters article in the references.

   

 

References:

 

Venezuelan expats who helped propel Canada oil sands growth see return home as unlikely. Amanda Stephenson. Reuters. February 4, 2026. Venezuelan expats who helped propel Canada oil sands growth see return home as unlikely