US oilfield firm shuts its doors after $1bn Venezuela project fails
Horizontal Well Drillers was part of a bold, but ultimately doomed, plan to boost the country’s oil output and halt its economic collapse
Denver/New York — An Oklahoma oilfield company that played a central role in Venezuela’s high-profile attempt to convince the world it could halt production declines at its dilapidated oilfields has shut its doors, according to three people familiar with the matter.
In 2016, Horizontal Well Drillers, a closely held US driller, won a $1.29bn contract to drill 191 wells in Venezuela’s Orinoco Belt, part of an unusual plan to sharply boost output and halt Venezuela’s economic collapse. It and two other drilling contractors were asked to finance the work themselves and be paid in future production, according to documents obtained by Reuters at the time...
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