President Trump told reporters Sunday night that he was “inclined” to deny ExxonMobil any role in rebuilding Venezuela’s moribund oil industry after its CEO told him point-blank Friday that the South American country was “uninvestible” despite the recent capture of President Nicolas Maduro.
“I didn’t like Exxon’s response,” Trump said to reporters on Air Force One as he departed West Palm Beach, Florida. “They’re playing too cute.”
ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods made the blunt assessment during a White House meeting of petroleum executives who Trump was trying to persuade to restart production in Venezuela after more than 25 years of left-wing authoritarian rule.
“If we look at the commercial constructs and frameworks in place today in Venezuela, today it’s uninvestable,” said Woods, who has led the world’s largest oil company since January 2017.
The president had argued during Friday’s meeting that oil companies would be dealing with Washington rather than the interim Venezuelan government led by Maduro underling Delcy Rodriguez.
Meanwhile, Trump signed an executive order Friday blocking Venezuelan oil revenue from being seized for compensation in judicial proceedings — after telling ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan Lance that billions of dollars worth of company assets that were seized by Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chavez, in 2007 were “lost in the past.”
Chevron remains the only major US oil operator in Venezuela, with the company recently stating that it has a way to bring up production from 240,000 barrels of crude a day.
Trump has previously said the US is taking over the sales of 30 million to 50 million barrels of previously sanctioned Venezuelan crude, and plans to control sales worldwide indefinitely.
“Venezuela’s really working out well. We’re working along really well with the leadership. We’ll see how it all works out,” the president told reporters Sunday night, adding that Rodriguez had “asked us, can we take 50 million barrels of oil and I said, ‘Yes, we can.’”
“It’s on its way right now to the United States.”
With Post wires
