President Donald Trump on Friday tried to sell Big Oil executives on the promise of an expansive new drilling campaign in Venezuela.
But at least for now, the industry isn’t buying it.
Trump and his top aides emerged from a lengthy White House meeting without any major commitments from companies to invest billions of dollars in the nation, after running into deep skepticism over the administration’s plan for ensuring Venezuela’s long-term stability.
“It’s uninvestible,” ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods told officials in a blunt evaluation of the obstacles to doing business in the nation. “There are a number of legal and commercial frameworks that would have to be established to even understand what kind of returns we would get on the investment.”
Several other executives at the meeting expressed similar reluctance, warning that the industry would first need to secure extensive security and financial guarantees before beginning a yearslong effort to ramp up oil production.
Even oil investor Harold Hamm, a prominent wildcatter and major Trump donor, signaled he would need far more assurances before backing the administration’s reinvestment scheme.
“It’s got its challenges,” he said of Venezuela. “There’s a huge investment that needs to be done, we’ve all agreed on that, and certainly we need time to see that through.”
The tepid reception from the industry threatens to further complicate Trump’s unprecedented intervention in Venezuela, which he envisions as a yearslong entanglement aimed at remaking both its political leadership and its oil-centric economy.
Trump, who authorized the capture of former President Nicolás Maduro but has left the rest of the current Venezuelan regime intact, insisted on Friday that interim leader Delcy Rodríguez would aid his efforts to bring US firms back into the country.
“They seem to be an ally, and I think it’ll continue to be an ally,” he said.
Venezuela would soon be stable enough for companies to make long-term investments, he predicted, talking up the nation’s massive oil reserves and urging companies to jump on the opportunity.
“If you don’t want to go in, just let me know, because I’ve got 25 people that aren’t here today that are willing to take your place,” he told the executives at one point.
Executives seek security guarantees
Yet while energy companies have expressed interest in recent days in being involved in the US’ efforts to rebuild Venezuela, they’ve cautioned repeatedly that any fresh investment is likely years away from making financial sense — and heavily dependent on how the administration navigates the uncertainty of the next several months.
Multiple executives at the White House meeting alluded to the need for security guarantees, amid concerns over Venezuela’s political trajectory and the safety of any future employees and equipment in the country. That push also reflected private concerns throughout the industry over whether Trump could guarantee that any deals he strikes with companies will remain in force beyond his presidency — or even following a changeover in power in Venezuela.
Trump sought to reassure the group that they would have “total safety, total security,” but offered no specifics and declined to commit any major federal resources to the issue.
Pressed on the matter after the meeting, Energy Secretary Chris Wright told reporters only that the administration’s initial plan was to “change the behavior of the government in Venezuela.”
Trump’s $100 billion goal
Wright went on to tout the “tremendous interest” from the industry in Venezuela, pointing to suggestions from Chevron that it could increase its current output by 50% over the next 18 to 24 months. Chevron, which is the only US oil company currently operating in Venezuela, projected that the ramp-up of its existing operations would only be possible if it got certain “permissions” from the administration first.
But as for the $100 billion in new investments from the industry that Trump has claimed would soon be on the way to revitalize Venezuela’s oil production, Wright acknowledged they’d yet to make any significant headway in hitting that mark.
“I think that’s a quite reasonable number,” he said, but rebuilding the nation “does indeed take time.”
“That’s not next week, that’s not next month, but that’s the trajectory we’re aiming to get on,” Wright said.
