Thousands of Venezuelan engineers and technical specialists migrated to Canada’s energy centres in the 2000s, bringing deep experience with heavy crude that helped accelerate the development of Alberta’s oil sands. Federal data show about 7,450 Venezuelans arrived between 2001 and 2010, many after the Chávez era and a PDVSA strike. While U.S. efforts to revive Venezuela’s oil sector raise questions about future heavy-oil supply, experts say a quick rebound is unlikely without long-term political stability and major new investment. Most veteran expatriates are older and have established lives abroad, making a mass return improbable.
From Caracas to Calgary: Venezuelan Engineers Who Built Canada’s Oil Sands See Little Chance Of Returning
Venezuelan expat Luis Cabana poses near his apartment in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, January 28, 2026. Picture taken with a mobile phone. REUTERS/Kyaw Soe Oo
CALGARY, Feb 4 (Reuters) - In the mid-2000s, professional engineer Luis Cabana said he could not walk through downtown Calgary without being greeted in Spanish by colleagues and acquaintances. At the time, Canada’s oil-and-gas corporate towers hosted large numbers of Venezuelan expatriates who left their country amid persecution and economic collapse.
Despite the stark climate contrast between frigid Alberta and tropical Venezuela, northern Alberta’s oil sands and Venezuela’s Orinoco Belt produce a similar viscous heavy crude. That technical likeness drew thousands of Venezuelan engineers, geoscientists and technical specialists to Canadian energy hubs such as Calgary, Edmonton and Fort McMurray.
Lino Carrillo, who had worked in heavy oil processing and refining in Venezuela before being recruited by Canada's Suncor Energy in 2004, shows his family photo taken during his stay in Venezuela, at his residence in Oakville, Toronto, Canada January 30, 2026. REUTERS/Wa Lone
"We were over-represented. I knew another professional at every single company downtown," Cabana said. He arrived in Canada in 2006 and spent more than a decade managing projects in the country’s energy sector.
How Venezuelan Expertise Shaped Canada’s Oil Sands
Venezuelan expatriates played an important role in scaling up Canada’s oil-sands industry, helping the country become one of the world’s largest producers of heavy crude even as Venezuela’s own output declined. Many arrived after the early-2000s wave of upheaval following the rise of Hugo Chávez and a crippling strike at state-owned oil company PDVSA.
Lino Carrillo, who had worked in heavy oil processing and refining in Venezuela before being recruited by Canada's Suncor Energy in 2004, speaks during an interview with Reuters at his residence in Oakville, Toronto, Canada January 30, 2026. REUTERS/Wa Lone
Federal statistics show roughly 7,450 Venezuelans arrived in Canada between 2001 and 2010, including several former PDVSA senior officials. Chemist Pedro Pereira, once director of PDVSA’s technology strategy and later blacklisted by the Venezuelan government, took a role at the University of Calgary leading nanotechnology research for oil-sands applications and recruited dozens of Venezuelan specialists.
"I ended up producing technology not for Venezuela — which was the country that paid abundantly for the education of all these people — but for Canada," Pereira said. He now runs a Calgary-based tech company focused on renewable energy.
Others, like Lino Carrillo, relocated to Fort McMurray to apply their heavy-oil processing and refining expertise. "When I got there it was minus 35 (Celsius), and when I left Caracas, it was plus 25, so it was a bit of a shock," Carrillo recalled. He said Venezuelan know-how helped shorten the learning curve for Canadian operators, particularly because many arrivals brought 15–20 years of hands-on experience.
Venezuelan expat Luis Cabana poses near his apartment in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, January 28, 2026. Picture taken with a mobile phone. REUTERS/Kyaw Soe Oo
Return To Venezuela Remains Unlikely
Recent U.S. initiatives to revive Venezuela’s oil output have unsettled some Canadian energy stakeholders, who worry renewed Venezuelan shipments could displace heavy crude that U.S. refiners currently buy from Canada. Still, analysts and industry sources say a rapid rebound of Venezuelan production is improbable: rebuilding the Orinoco Basin requires large, multi-year investments that U.S. companies are unlikely to make without sustained political stability and a clear, widely accepted legal framework.
Many Venezuelan expatriates who helped build Canada’s oil-sands capacity say they are unlikely to return even if the industry is rebuilt. "Venezuelan expats have lots of conversations about 'will they go back, how can they help their country recover,'" Pereira said. "But it's two generations that have passed now, and the ones that have expertise, most of them are at least 55 years old."
Lino Carrillo, who had worked in heavy oil processing and refining in Venezuela before being recruited by Canada's Suncor Energy in 2004, speaks during an interview with Reuters at his residence in Oakville, Toronto, Canada January 30, 2026. REUTERS/Wa Lone
Carrillo, now retired, has remained engaged with Venezuelan politics and even advised opposition leader María Corina Machado. Yet he and others say family ties, established careers and age make a large-scale reverse migration unlikely, even under a future government focused on oil-sector recovery.
(Reporting by Amanda Stephenson in Calgary; Editing by Caroline Stauffer and Nia Williams)
Help us improve.
