Trump Claims US Oil Firms Will “Revive” Venezuela

After a raid by United States special forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife last Saturday (Jan. 3), President Donald Trump stated that U.S.-based oil giants ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips and Chevron are poised to pour billions into efforts to “revive” the country’s oil infrastructure and “start making money for the country.” Analysts noted that he barely mentioned drugs as a reason for the raid at a press conference.

“The infrastructure is rotten, rusty,” Trump said to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday (Jan. 4), as he mentioned oil about 20 times in his remarks about the surprising capture of Maduro. Venezuela sits on the largest oil reserves in the world, with an estimated 304 billion barrels worth $17.3 trillion. At its height in the late 1990s, Venezuela exported 2 million barrels of crude oil to the U.S. – half of its daily output globally. But sanctions levied against the nation by the U.S. two decades ago, as well as government corruption, have left the refineries there in poor shape.

Ali Mohseri, who once was Chevron’s former head of Latin American operations, has openly expressed a desire to get involved, identifying multiple assets in Venezuela and that he was raising $2 billion in funds through his Amos Global Management Fund with a proposal to privately invest. “We have been anticipating this breakthrough for a while and our $2bn private placement memorandum is ready to go with several investment targets identified,” he said to the Financial Times.

Chevron, which is already operating in Venezuela under a special license from the Trump administration, has only stated that its interests lie in employee safety and the protection of its assets. ConocoPhillips called the Trump overture “premature.” ExxonMobil is still pursuing a payment of $1.6 billion it was awarded after Venezuela nationalized its oil infrastructure under the regime of the late Hugo Chavez in 2007.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared to back Trump’s claims based on his interpretation of the “Monroe Doctrine.” “What we’re not going to allow is for the oil industry in Venezuela to be controlled by adversaries of the United States,” he said in an appearance on NBC News’ Meet the Press. Currently, U.S. naval forces have used a blockade to halt oil exports from Venezuela, dating back to last month, with tankers operated by Chevron being the exception.