Venezuela Group
Real-time intelligence
from local and global experts

Navigating Venezuela’s rapidly evolving legal, political, and commercial landscape requires deep industry insight, an understanding of US, Latin American and local dynamics, and globally coordinated expertise. 

Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer has established a dedicated Venezuela Group to help clients assess opportunities, manage risks, and respond to the fast‑moving developments affecting investments, sovereign assets, and the oil & gas, energy, mining sector.

Venezuela is undergoing a complex period of institutional transition, marked by governance changes, regulatory uncertainty, evolving state‑owned‑entity structures, and a recalibration of US–Venezuela and wider international relations. Our team closely monitors how these developments may affect foreign investors, sanctions exposure, sovereign litigation, public international law, cross‑border enforcement, and market re‑entry strategies.

A unique combination of expertise

Our Venezuela Group brings together leading practitioners in international arbitration, public international law, sanctions, investigations, project finance, cross‑border litigation, energy, and mining. Our lawyers are also fluent in Spanish and experienced in the particularities of working with Latin American institutions, including clients with operations in Venezuela.

We have played key roles in many of the most significant Venezuela‑related disputes, restructurings, sovereign‑asset matters, and ICSID/UNCITRAL arbitrations in US and international fora, giving the team exceptional insight into the State’s litigation posture, negotiation patterns, and commercial behavior.

Working alongside trusted counsel in Venezuela, we provide clients with real‑time intelligence on legal reforms, institutional changes, regulatory shifts, and operational challenges on the ground.

How we support clients

Some of the Group’s work includes:

• Monitoring US, EU, and multilateral sanctions actions affecting Venezuelan state assets, PDVSA operations, and foreign investor rights.
• Guiding clients through evolving licensing pathways for investment in the oil and gas sector.
• Advising multinationals evaluating re‑entry, joint ventures, divestment, and contract renegotiation, including under special sectoral frameworks.
• Supporting investment protection strategies, contract restructuring, and the enforcement or acquisition of arbitral awards involving Venezuela.
• Advising on treaty planning, public international law risks, and potential exposure linked to institutional transition and regulatory changes.
• Monitoring legal reforms, institutional transition, and governance changes that may impact vested rights, regulatory stability, or future projects.
• Assessing existing infrastructure, operational challenges, ESG requirements, and reputational risks faced by international actors.
• Along with trusted local counsel, providing real‑time insight into legislative and institutional developments affecting legal reforms, property rights, and investor protections.