{"id":506200,"date":"2026-01-10T13:19:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T13:19:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/506200\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T13:19:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T13:19:13","slug":"us-oil-giant-exxonmobil-tells-donald-trump-venezuela-is-uninvestable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/506200\/","title":{"rendered":"US oil giant ExxonMobil tells Donald Trump Venezuela is \u2018uninvestable\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

ExxonMobil has warned that Venezuela remains \u201cuninvestable\u201d without \u201csignificant changes\u201d in a rebuke to Donald Trump\u2019s call for oil companies to pour billions of dollars into revitalising its oil industry.<\/p>\n

Darren Woods, chief executive of the biggest US oil major, struck a sceptical tone at a televised White House gathering of energy bosses on Friday \u2014 even as some other companies expressed optimism about the potential to tap the world\u2019s biggest oil reserves.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we look at the legal and commercial constructs, frameworks in place today in Venezuela, today it\u2019s uninvestable,\u201d Woods told Trump<\/a> in a meeting that included many of America\u2019s most prominent energy executives and some of the president\u2019s top lieutenants.<\/p>\n

\u201cSignificant changes have to be made to those commercial frameworks, the legal system, there has to be durable investment protections, and there has to be change to the hydrocarbon laws in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Woods said the company\u2019s assets in Venezuela had been seized twice since Exxon first entered the country in the 1940s.<\/p>\n

His remarks underline how the biggest energy groups remain reluctant to rush into making big capital commitments in Venezuela<\/a> even as Trump seeks to cajole them into pouring \u201cat least $100bn\u201d into the country to increase production and drive down US oil prices. <\/p>\n

The meeting came less than a week after Trump launched an audacious operation to capture strongman leader Nicol\u00e1s Maduro in Caracas and claim control of the country\u2019s vast natural resources.<\/p>\n

Trump told the executives he would decide which companies were allowed to enter Venezuela and that they needed to make a decision quickly.\u00a0\u201cIf you don\u2019t want to go in, just let me know, because I got 25 people that aren\u2019t here today that are willing to take your place.\u201d<\/p>\n

The FT reported this week that the industry was unlikely to commit to making big investments in Venezuela without legal, financial and security assurances<\/a> from Washington.<\/p>\n

Other oil executives gathered at the White House \u2014 including services groups and those that already have operations on the ground \u2014 were more receptive to the president\u2019s overtures, suggesting some level of capital could flow into the country in the near term.<\/p>\n

Chevron said it could boost production by 50 per cent within 18 to 24 months by expanding its existing operations, which pump about 240,000 barrels per day. Shell boss Wael Sawan said the European oil major had \u201ca few billion dollars\u2019 worth of opportunities to invest in\u201d subject to the US providing waivers to its sanctions. \u201cWe are ready to go,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Spain\u2019s Repsol said it could triple its production to more than 150,000 b\/d within two to three years. Eni, which has about 500 people working in Venezuela, said it had 4bn barrels of reserves in the country and was ready to boost investment.<\/p>\n

When pressed by Trump, Woods said Exxon would send a technical team to Venezuela within weeks to assess conditions.\u00a0He also said he was \u201cconfident\u201d that the changes needed for investment \u201ccan be put in place\u201d.<\/p>\n

Harold Hamm, founder of Continental Resources and a longtime Trump ally, declined to make any commitments to invest in Venezuela even as he described its vast reserves as a \u201creal jewel\u201d. <\/p>\n

Asked directly by Trump if he planned to inject capital into the country, Hamm said Venezuela was a \u201cvery exciting thing\u201d with \u201cchallenges\u201d that he said the industry \u201cknows how to handle\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"HaroldHarold Hamm, Continental Resources founder, left, and Richard Holtum, chief executive of Trafigura at Friday\u2019s meeting \u00a9 AP<\/p>\n

The mixed messages from executives on Friday emphasise the complexities faced by oil companies as they weigh how to respond to Trump\u2019s calls to inject capital into a country that remains unstable and where many of them were burned by expropriations in recent decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe legal, political and geopolitical risks of going into Venezuela to make the sort of large investments that the administration seems to want are very significant,\u201d said Meghan O\u2019Sullivan, a Harvard professor and expert on geopolitics and energy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But even as he sought to convince them to make sweeping investments, Trump appeared reluctant to make any significant concessions to the oil companies about reimbursements or financial guarantees.<\/p>\n

The president made clear that companies that had assets seized in the past were unlikely to receive compensation. He told ConocoPhillips chief executive Ryan Lance, whose company lost $12bn to expropriations: \u201cYou\u2019re going to make a lot of money, but we\u2019re not going to go back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to start with an even plate,\u201d Trump said. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to look at what people lost in the past because that was their fault. That was a different president.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump also appeared to rule out using US tax revenues to reimburse companies for investing in Venezuela, something he had previously floated, telling the executives they \u201cdon\u2019t need government money\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur giant oil companies will be spending at least $100bn of their money \u2014 not the government\u2019s money,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

When asked later about financial backstops for the companies, Trump said he hoped these would not be needed.\u00a0But he signalled the US government could provide some form of security and legal guarantees, which have been crucial demands by the industry. \u201cYou\u2019ll have total safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Trump suggested the Venezuelan regime, rather than US troops, would provide security on the ground. \u201cI think the people of Venezuela are going to give you a very good security.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DonaldTrump, centre, with oil and gas executives at the White House \u00a9 Bonnie Cash\/Pool\/EPA\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Legal experts said there was \u201csignificant interest\u201d among companies in potential investments in Venezuela, but that it would take big undertakings before that was converted into action. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe dilemma at the moment is that the landscape hasn\u2019t settled yet, there are logistical and political challenges,\u201d said Carlos Sol\u00e9, co-chair of law firm Baker Botts\u2019 Latin America practice.<\/p>\n

Recommended<\/p>\n

\"Mike<\/a><\/p>\n

He said that much needed to change before companies took action, including making it easier for US businesses to get licences or sanctions waivers from the Office of Foreign Assets Control to carry out transactions in the country.<\/p>\n

Aurelio Fernandez-Concheso, the head of law firm Clyde & Co\u2019s Venezuela office, said he had received many calls from clients in the oil and gas, transport and insurance industries about doing business in the country but that there was \u201ca lot of caution about how it will develop\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one thing to pick up the phone and call an adviser, and it\u2019s a different thing to write a cheque and put money into the country.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ExxonMobil has warned that Venezuela remains \u201cuninvestable\u201d without \u201csignificant changes\u201d in a rebuke to Donald Trump\u2019s call for…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":506201,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[51,50,52],"class_list":{"0":"post-506200","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115871007691494633","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=506200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/506201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=506200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=506200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=506200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}