Kenny Malone

Venezuela's boom turned again to bust.

Some Venezuelans continued to expect oil-fueled handouts from its oil-rich government.

But the well was simply dry, or maybe not dry, but worth a lot less.

There were massive cuts to services and subsidies.

In the 1990s, Venezuelan leaders moved to save its oil economy by encouraging the foreign oil companies to come back and giving them better contracts.

And that did keep oil money flowing, but the Venezuelan masses were still not getting what they wanted.

Their discontent continued to grow, and that ushered in a new political force, Hugo Chavez.

By that time, there were just three American companies left.

And two of them, Exxon and Conoco, they were like, deuces, adios, no mas.

As Chavez's power grew and then Nicolas Maduro took over in 2013,

The U.S.

's relationship with Venezuela soured.

The U.S.

sanctioned Venezuelan oil.

The Venezuelan economy tanked.

It was plagued by hyperinflation.

And still, Chevron has managed to negotiate these delicate deals with both Venezuela and the U.S.

government to stay in Venezuela and keep exporting its oil.

Chevron has continued its work in Venezuela.

It employs around 3,000 Venezuelans and produces about a quarter of all of Venezuela's oil, around several hundred thousand barrels of oil a day, all of which comes to the United States.