The administration of US President Donald Trump is planning to meet with executives from US oil companies later this week to discuss boosting Venezuelan oil production after US forces ousted its leader Nicolas Maduro, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The meetings are crucial to the administration’s hopes of getting top US oil companies back into the South American nation after its government, nearly two decades ago, took control of US-led energy operations there.
The three biggest US oil companies — Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips, and Chevron — have not yet had any conversations with the administration about Maduro’s ouster, according to four oil industry executives familiar with the matter, contradicting Trump’s statements over the weekend that he had already held meetings with “all” the US oil companies, both before and since Maduro was seized.
“Nobody in those three companies has had conversations with the White House about operating in Venezuela, pre-removal or post-removal to this point,” one of the sources said on Monday.
The upcoming meetings will be crucial to the administration’s hopes to boost crude oil production and exports from Venezuela, a former OPEC nation which sits atop the world’s largest reserves and whose barrels can be refined by specially designed US refineries.
Achieving that goal will require years of work and billions of dollars of investment, analysts say.
It is unclear what executives will be attending the upcoming meetings, and whether oil companies will be attending individually or collectively.
The White House did not comment on the meetings but said it believed the US oil industry was ready to move into Venezuela.
“All of our oil companies are ready and willing to make big investments in Venezuela that will rebuild their oil infrastructure, which was destroyed by the illegitimate Maduro regime,” said White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers.
Exxon, Chevron and ConocoPhillips did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Trump told NBC News the US may subsidise oil companies to enable them to rebuild Venezuela’s energy infrastructure.
Asked if the administration had briefed any oil companies ahead of the military operation, Trump said, “No. But weve been talking to the concept of, ‘what if we did it?’”
“The oil companies were absolutely aware that we were thinking about doing something,” Trump told NBC News.
“But we didn’t tell them we were going to do it.”
He told NBC News it was “too soon” to say whether he had personally spoken to top executives at the three companies.
“I speak to everybody,” he said.
CBS News, citing an unnamed source, said executives from the three were expected to meet on Thursday with Energy Secretary Chris Wright.
One oil industry executive told Reuters the companies would be reluctant to talk about potential Venezuela operations in group settings with the White House, citing anti-trust concerns that limit collective discussions among competitors about investment plans, timing and production levels.
