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Donald Trump has said he might block ExxonMobil from investing in Venezuela after the oil company’s chief executive called the country “uninvestable” during a White House meeting last week. Darren Woods told the US president that Venezuela would need to change its laws before it could be an attractive investment opportunity, during the high-profile meeting on Friday with at least 17 other oil executives.
Trump had urged the group to spend $100bn to revitalise Venezuela’s oil industry in a meeting less than a week after US forces captured and removed Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro from power in a brazen overnight raid. Woods’ sceptical remarks quickly emerged as the dominant headline, undercutting the White House’s hopes of building momentum from its engagement with the world’s most prominent oil executives.
“I didn’t like Exxon’s response,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on his way back to Washington on Sunday. “I’ll probably be inclined to keep Exxon out. I didn’t like their response. They’re playing too cute.”
The government of late president Hugo Chávez nationalised the industry between 2004 and 2007, and while Chevron negotiated deals to partner with PDVSA, ConocoPhillips and Exxon left the country and filed for prominent arbitration cases shortly after. Venezuela now owes over $13bn collectively to ConocoPhillips and Exxon for the expropriations, according to court rulings.
Woods told Trump on Friday: “We’ve had our assets seized there twice, and so you can imagine to re-enter a third time would require some pretty significant changes from what we’ve historically seen here.” Exxon’s CEO said the company needed durable investment protections introduced and that the country’s hydrocarbons law also needed to be reformed. “If we look at the legal and commercial constructs and frameworks in place today in Venezuela today, it’s uninvestable,” he said.
ConocoPhillips’ CEO, Ryan Lance, told Trump that his company was the largest non-sovereign credit holder in Venezuela, and called for a restructuring of the debt and the country’s entire energy system, including PDVSA. Trump said ConocoPhillips would get a lot of its money back, but the US would start with a clean slate. “We’re not going to look at what people lost in the past because that was their fault,” he said.
Trump said on Friday that his administration would decide which firms would be allowed to operate in the South American country. “You’re dealing with us directly. You’re not dealing with Venezuela at all,” he said. “We don’t want you to deal with Venezuela.”
On Saturday, Trump signed an executive order to block courts or creditors from seizing revenue tied to the sale of Venezuelan oil held in US Treasury accounts.
© 2015 Mutual Fund Observer. All rights reserved.
© 2015 Mutual Fund Observer. All rights reserved. Powered by Vanilla
Comments
And there's your kiss of death right there.
And Exxon/Mobile is saying, 'THANK YOU. May I have another'. Hell, they told him, and the press, No Thanks. Way too expensive. Geez, this is the nasty stuff that has to be mined because it doesn't flow. And then it requires special refining that we do not have in this country. Shit, this is the worst oil on the planet. Oh, and there are militias rounding up all Americans. Nice safe place.
GD idiot, but my PMs love it to pieces,
and so its goes,
peace,
rono
IDK, it feels like we may be near a tipping point. No need to dole out rope. trump is controlling the feed line.
Looking into where to buy balloons and cake. Setting up a playlist too!
I get that feeling also.
The oily meeting is more evidence that the Big Adventure in Venezuela was/is a Shoot-Ready-Aim affair.
In this context, grabbing Venezuelan crude makes sense. Though increasing the global supply of oil forces prices down perhaps below the cost of US shale oil production - another expensive process.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/12/us-oil-producers-global-supply-glut-venezuela https://www.afpm.org/newsroom/blog/whats-difference-between-heavy-and-light-crude-oils-and-why-do-american-refineries https://www.api.org/energy-insights/charts-analysis/us-primarily-imports-heavy-crude-oils https://www.nrdc.org/bio/anthony-swift/three-facts-you-should-know-about-keystone-xl-tar-sands-pipeline-and-exports
OJ
PLEASE! The sooner, the better.
Yes, on account of my own midstream investment, I've come across some info saying that there are facilities along the Gulf Coast specifically designed to handle the heavy "sour" oil, like the stuff from Venez.
Because of Canada's past utilization of pipelines through the US in order to get their Tar Sands (shale) oil to international markets, they are finally by now developing their own equipment and port infrastructure to be able to export the stuff directly, (including natural gas--LNG, I think---) after the tariff nonsense and chilled political climate. And after the US has proven to be undependable, if not adversarial. While I was in B.C. last summer, there was a news report that a first-of-its-kind shipment of LNG (or oil?) was being sent to China; not from Vancouver, but from a port further up the Pacific coast.
And they'll continue in this way. It can only be good for the Canadian economy, in the long run. And in the short-run, too. Yet, it is regrettable that the tar sands projects up North near Ft. McMurray, are literally de-facing Alberta...