WASHINGTON: U.S. President Donald Trump met with executives from some of the world's largest oil companies at the White House on Friday to discuss Venezuela, saying he wants them to invest $100 billion in the country to vastly expand its production.
Trump has named oil as the priority for his strategy for the South American nation after U.S. forces seized its leader Nicolas Maduro in an overnight raid on its capital January 3.
American companies will have the opportunity to rebuild Venezuela's rotting energy infrastructure and eventually increase oil production to levels never, ever seen before," Trump said at the opening of the meeting.
He was flanked by top executives from Exxon Mobil (XOM.N), opens new tab, ConocoPhillips (COP.N), opens new tab, Chevron Corp (CVX.N), opens new tab and others.
"We're going to be making the decision as to which oil companies are going to go in," the Republican president said.
He praised an agreement with Venezuela's interim leaders to provide 50 million barrels of crude oil to the U.S., where numerous refineries are specially equipped to refine it. Trump said he expects such deliveries to continue indefinitely.
"One of the things the United States gets out of this will be even lower energy prices," he said.
U.S. forces have continued to apprehend Venezuelan oil tankers at sea to enforce an embargo. The fifth such seizure was announced on Friday.
Trump administration officials have said they need to control Venezuela’s oil sales and revenues indefinitely to ensure the country acts in America’s interests, including by reducing corruption and drug trafficking.
Some Democratic lawmakers have criticized this approach as extortion. Industry analysts have also warned about political instability as the country treads a fine line between denouncing Maduro's capture and appeasing the U.S.
"UNINVESTABLE"
Companies including Chevron, Vitol and Trafigura are competing for U.S. licenses to market Venezuela’s existing crude oil, but oil majors are hesitant to commit to big, longer-term investments in Venezuela due to high costs and political instability.
