Chevron's big bet

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**Kristin Schwab** (0:32)
Today on the show, we'll talk oil and gas, we'll talk jobs, we'll talk about how American consumers are getting by. Think of it as an economic sampler platter of sorts. From American Public Media, this is Marketplace.
In New York, I'm Kristin Schwab, and for Kyra's Doll, it's Thursday, September 3rd, and it's good to be here with you.
As the war in Iran revs up again, and a small number of ships barely eke their way through the Strait of Hormuz, we turn our focus today on another source of oil, Venezuela. US oil giant Chevron says it'll expand operations there. The company announced a $7 billion investment in Venezuela over the next five years. The goal for Chevron is to double its oil production in the country to 600,000 barrels a day. Marketplace's Elizabeth Troval has more.

**Elizabeth Troval** (1:32)
In its announcement, Chevron called this a turning point for energy in Venezuela. Bob Frickland with SMP Global Energy put it this way.

**Bob Frickland** (1:41)
So it's a pretty significant investment for Chevron, but also more importantly, it's the largest investment so far by an individual company in Venezuela.

**Elizabeth Troval** (1:51)
He says Chevron will build on the company's existing operations in the country.

**Bob Frickland** (1:55)
This makes a lot of sense for them to continue to grow an asset that they already had and have had for decades.

**Elizabeth Troval** (2:03)
But other super majors like ExxonMobil may be hesitant to follow.

**Bob Frickland** (2:08)
It makes less sense for some of the other companies because they would be starting from scratch almost.

**Elizabeth Troval** (2:14)
Chevron has more security than a new entrant into the country, says David Goldwyn with Goldwyn Global Strategies.

**David Goldwyn** (2:21)
My guess is that we will see a lot of those companies look at potential opportunities in Venezuela, maybe identify fields that they might in the future be interested in operating.

**Elizabeth Troval** (2:32)
But they will slow roll those decisions. Venezuela remains politically risky.
On the other hand, he says the world is going to need oil for decades.

**David Goldwyn** (2:43)
In a market where we are looking at long-term risk for the Strait of Hormuz, probably never returning to the flows that we saw before the president started this war, we may need to replace that supply from other countries.

**Elizabeth Troval** (2:56)
Having more of that oil come from the Western Hemisphere is a good thing, he says. It could come from Venezuela, but it doesn't have to.
I'm Elizabeth Troval for Marketplace.

**Kristin Schwab** (3:09)
Fed Governor Christopher Waller gave an interview today saying he could see an interest rate hold in the Fed's future, and Wall Street clung to it. We'll have the details when we do the numbers.
This morning, we got the weekly numbers on how many people filed for unemployment benefits last week. Jobless claims rose a little bit to 206,000. That's 2,000 more claims than the week before. The big job news, though, comes tomorrow with the August jobs report. The Fed is hoping for some healthy numbers to make up for the previous month's 23,000 job decline. Thing is, if the numbers come in flat or even a bit down, the economy could be just fine? Question mark.
Marketplace's Mitchell Hartman explains.

**Mitchell Hartman** (4:19)
After the last dismal jobs report came out showing negative job creation in July, Treasury Secretary Scott Besson had this to say on CNBC.

**Scott Besson** (4:29)
The jobs that we're seeing are going to Americans. After the deportations that we've seen during President Trump's administration and the closing of the border, that this unfettered migration, we don't need to produce as many jobs.

**Mitchell Hartman** (4:44)
Is he right?
Can we actually have lost jobs in July and added only 20,000 jobs a month on average over the last three months and still call this a healthy labor market? Here's economist Joe Brusuelas at consulting firm RSM.

**Joe Brusuelas** (4:59)
We're likely to have months where we see negative job growth, but the unemployment rate will not increase, which is sure to confuse the American public.

**Mitchell Hartman** (5:11)
As well it might, says Justin Blache at the Cornell School of Industrial and Labor Relations.