Trump Courts Oil Giants for Venezuela Revival—Execs Say ‘Uninvestable’ Without Major Changes!
Source: BBC
US President Donald Trump has urged oil executives to commit at least $100bn (£75bn) in investment to revive Venezuela’s oil industry following a 3 January raid in which US forces seized leader Nicolas Maduro, but received a cautious response at a White House meeting where industry leaders described the country as currently “uninvestable,” acknowledging its vast reserves but stressing that major political, legal and security changes are needed before significant commitments can be made; Trump argued that opening Venezuela’s oil would lead to lower energy prices, stating, “One of the things the United States gets out of this will be even lower energy prices,” while Exxon chief executive Darren Woods warned of past asset seizures, saying, “We have 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 and what is currently the state… “Today it’s uninvestable,” as the US signaled plans to selectively roll back sanctions while controlling oil sales. Analysts say that any investments made in the near future are likely to be small and far below Trump’s proposed amount, given Venezuela’s political instability, production problems, and the lack of conditions needed for large-scale oil sector investment.
