U.S. oil firms cautious on Venezuela return amid Trump pressure
(Bloomberg) - Major U.S. oil companies remain wary of returning to Venezuela despite pressure from President Donald Trump, citing concerns over security, legal protections and investment risk following years of asset seizures and industry decline.
Trump met with nearly 20 oil executives at the White House on Friday, urging companies to commit capital to help revive Venezuela’s oil sector after the removal of former president Nicolás Maduro. The administration has floated the idea of U.S. security guarantees, but executives signaled that assurances on contract stability and governance remain insufficient.
ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods said Venezuela is currently “uninvestible,” pointing to the company’s history of nationalization in the country. “There has to be durable investment protections,” Woods said, adding that reentry would require fundamental changes to Venezuela’s legal and commercial framework.
Executives also expressed concern about the scale of investment required. Rebuilding Venezuela’s oil infrastructure could take tens of billions of dollars over several years to deliver only modest production gains, analysts have said. Output has fallen to less than 1 MMbpd after decades of underinvestment, sanctions and operational neglect.
SLB CEO Olivier Le Peuch expressed readiness to mobilize, citing nearly a century of experience in Venezuelan oil partnerships. “We continue to have operational facilities, equipment and local personnel in country," Le Puech said. "We have historically served as the partner of choice in the region, and we are confident that under the right conditions, operating licenses and safety environment, we can ramp up activities quickly to support the people of Venezuela and our customers.”
While Chevron continues to operate in Venezuela under a special U.S. license, other majors including ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips left after Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chávez, nationalized their assets. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum reiterated Friday that Washington is unlikely to provide financial subsidies, saying capital would need to come from energy companies and markets rather than the U.S. government.
“I don’t see that these companies are going to need support from the U.S., other than things around security," Burgum said in a comment to Bloomberg Television. "If we can provide a secure, stable environment, the resource here is so significant and so large that it’s going to be attractive for people to go in and develop.”
The discussions highlight the challenges facing efforts to quickly revive Venezuela’s oil industry, even as the country holds the world’s largest proved crude reserves and the administration looks to boost global supply.
See also: Chevron eyes up to $700 million cash flow upside from Venezuela
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Reporting by Jennifer A. Dlouhy, Bloomberg. Edited for conciseness.
