WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� President on Friday called on oil executives to rush back into Venezuela as the White House tries to quickly secure $100 billion in investments to fix the country’s and fully tap into its expansive reserves of petroleum.
Since the to capture former Venezuelan leader on Saturday, Trump has quickly pivoted to portraying the move as an economic opportunity for the U.S. He has carrying Venezuelan oil, has said the U.S. is taking over the sales of of previously sanctioned Venezuelan crude, and plans to control sales worldwide indefinitely.
At the White House meeting, major oil companies said they were interested in the opportunity but expressed caution given their past experience in the country. 鈥淚f we look at the commercial constructs and frameworks in place today in Venezuela, today it鈥檚 un-investable,鈥� said Darren Woods, CEO of ExxonMobil, the largest U.S. oil company.
Trump used the meeting to publicly assure executives that they need not be skeptical, even though the South American country has a history of state asset seizures, ongoing U.S. sanctions and decades of political uncertainty.
鈥淵ou have total safety,鈥� Trump told the executives. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e dealing with us directly and not dealing with Venezuela at all. We don鈥檛 want you to deal with Venezuela.鈥�
Trump added: 鈥淥ur giant oil companies will be spending at least $100 billion of their money, not the government鈥檚 money. They don鈥檛 need government money. But they need government protection.”
The president said the security guarantee would come from working with Venezuelan leaders and their people, instead of deploying U.S. forces. He also said the companies would 鈥渂ring over some security.鈥�
Trump urges Big Oil to take the plunge
The meeting came on a day when U.S. forces over the past month that has been linked to Venezuelan oil, an action reflecting the determination of the U.S. to fully control the exporting, refining and production of Venezuelan petroleum.
It鈥檚 part of a broader push by Trump to keep gasoline prices low. The incursion in Venezuela melds Trump鈥檚 assertive use of presidential powers with an optical spectacle meant to convince Americans that he can bring down energy prices at a time when many voters are concerned about the cost of living.
Trump played up the potential for major oil companies to strike big, while acknowledging that the executives were sharp people who were in the business of taking risk, a nod to the reality that he’s asking for investments in Venezuela at a moment when the country is teetering and economic collapse is not out of the question.
ExxonMobil CEO Woods said his company would send a team to assess the situation, and noted its assets had been seized there 鈥� twice 鈥� in the past. 鈥淪ignificant 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,” Woods said.
Other companies represented at the meeting included Chevron, which still operates in Venezuela, as well as ConocoPhillips, Halliburton, Valero, Marathon, Shell, Singapore-based Trafigura, Italy-based Eni and Spain-based Repsol.
has slumped below 1 million barrels a day. Trump, however, expressed confidence that Big Oil is ready to take the plunge.
鈥淵ou know, these are not babies,鈥� Trump said of the oil industry executives. 鈥淭hese are people that drill oil in some pretty rough places. I can say a couple of those places make Venezuela look like a picnic.鈥�
After the meeting, Energy Secretary Chris Wright told reporters that the companies showed 鈥渢remendous interest,鈥� adding that Chevron made a specific pledge. Wright said it could take eight to 12 years for daily production in Venezuela to triple to 3 million barrels a day.
Trump suggests China and Russia also want Venezuelan oil
The president also offered a new rationale for ousting Maduro and demanding the U.S. maintain oversight of the Venezuelan oil industry, saying, 鈥淥ne thing I think everyone has to know is that if we didn鈥檛 do this, China or Russia would have done it.”
Tyson Slocum, director of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen鈥檚 energy program, criticized the gathering and called the U.S. military鈥檚 removal of Maduro 鈥渧iolent imperialism.鈥� Slocum added that Trump鈥檚 goal appears to be to 鈥渉and billionaires control over Venezuela鈥檚 oil.鈥�
The White House has been seeking to show it has a stable relationship with Venezuela鈥檚 . While Rodr铆guez has publicly denounced Trump and the ouster of Maduro, the U.S. president has said that to date Venezuela’s interim leader has been cooperating behind the scenes
Meanwhile, the United States and Venezuelan governments said Friday they were exploring the possibility of between the two countries. A small team of U.S. diplomats and diplomatic security officials traveled to on Friday to make a preliminary assessment about the potential reopening of the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, the State Department said in a statement.
Trump to meet Machado next week 鈥� and Colombia’s Petro next month
Trump also announced Friday he鈥檇 meet next week, either Tuesday or Wednesday, with Maria Corina Machado, the leader of Venezuela鈥檚 opposition party. Trump has declined to back Machado, even as the U.S. and most observers determined her opposition movement defeated Maduro in Venezuela’s last election. Trump said following Maduro’s ouster that Machado 鈥渄oesn鈥檛 have the support within, or the respect within, the country鈥� to lead.
Trump earlier said he would meet Colombian President Gustavo Petro in early February. Trump had made vague threats to take after the capture of Maduro, describing the Colombian leader as a 鈥渟ick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States鈥�
Trump abruptly changed his tone Wednesday about his Colombian counterpart after a friendly phone call in which he invited Petro to visit the White House.
The seeming d茅tente between Petro, a leftist, and Trump, a conservative, appears to reflect that their shared interests override their deep differences.
For Colombia, the U.S. remains key to the military鈥檚 fight against leftist guerrillas and drug traffickers. Washington has provided Bogot谩 with roughly $14 billion in the last two decades.
For the U.S., Colombia, the world’s biggest cocaine producer, remains the cornerstone of its counternarcotics strategy abroad, providing crucial intelligence used . 鈥�-
Associated Press writers Matthew Daly, Michelle Price and Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.
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