Leading U.S. oil executives told President Donald Trump at the White House on Friday that Venezuela will need major reforms to attract investment.
Trump said Friday the industry would invest at least $100 billion to rebuild Venezuela’s energy sector with U.S. security guarantees. But the CEOs of big oil companies like ExxonMobil
and ConocoPhillips
did not commit at the meeting to quickly re-enter Venezuela.
Exxon CEO Darren Woods told Trump that the Venezuelan market is “uninvestable” in its current state. Venezuela seized Exxon’s and Conoco’s assets in 2007, and Caracas owes the companies billions of dollars in outstanding claims from arbitration cases.
