Trump says US oil companies will invest $100 billion in Venezuela

US President Donald Trump announced that major US oil companies have pledged to invest $100 billion in the sector in Venezuela in the post-Nicolas Maduro, ahead of his meeting with officials from these companies on Friday.

The United States ousted Maduro after he and his wife were captured by US special forces on January 3 and taken to its territory to face drug trafficking charges.

Trump hasn’t hidden Washington’s interest in exploiting Venezuelan oil, which has the world’s largest proven crude reserves, but whose sector and infrastructure have been suffering under the pressure of US sanctions imposed for years.

Trump wrote on Truth Social, “At least $100 billion will be invested by major oil companies, and I will meet with them all today (Friday) at the White House”.

Following Maduro’s arrest, officials in Washington confirmed that Washington would take over the administration of Venezuela in the next phase, while Energy Secretary Chris Wright hinted on Wednesday that his country would control the oil sector in Caracas indefinitely.

However, Maduro’s deputy, Delcy Rodriguez, who became Venezuela’s acting president, stressed that her government was in control, while Venezuela’s national oil company merely stated that it was in talks with Washington regarding the sale of crude oil.

In a related context, Trump said via social media that he had cancelled a second attack he had planned to launch against Venezuela after it released a large number of political prisoners.

He wrote, “Venezuela is releasing a large number of political prisoners as proof of its ‘pursuit of peace’… Because of this cooperation, a previously expected second wave of attacks has been cancelled”.

NBC News reported that Trump will meet with the heads of oil companies Exxon Mobil, Chevron and ConocoPhillips at the White House.

White House spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt had previously said that the meeting was “just a meeting to discuss, of course, the tremendous opportunity that these oil companies have right now”.

Chevron is the only American company licensed to operate in Venezuela; ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips left the country in 2007 after refusing to comply with conditions imposed by then-leftist leader Hugo Chavez, which required the Venezuelan state to have a majority stake in any oil-related activity.

Washington imposed a ban on Venezuelan oil exports starting in 2019, even though Caracas was previously a major supplier of crude oil to the United States.

Despite possessing about one-fifth of the world’s oil reserves, Venezuela produced only one percent of global production in 2024, according to data from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

Trump sees an opportunity to exploit Venezuela’s oil reserves in his quest to lower fuel prices in the United States, a key political issue.

But he may face a daunting task in persuading major US oil companies to invest in Venezuela because of uncertainty over the country’s governance after Maduro, security concerns, and the high cost of rehabilitating production facilities.

The US president said on Tuesday that the current government in Venezuela would hand over up to 50 million barrels of oil to the United States, and that it would be under his direct control.

Trump said, “The acting authorities in Venezuela will deliver to the United States between 30 and 50 million barrels of high-quality, sanctioned oil”.

He added, “This oil will be sold at market price, and I, as President of the United States, will manage those funds to ensure they are used for the benefit of the people of Venezuela and the United States”.

He later clarified that the funds would be used to purchase American products.

The US Energy Secretary downplayed the amount of investment needed to rehabilitate Venezuela’s oil sector, suggesting that production could be increased by hundreds of thousands of barrels per day in the near or medium term.

But he acknowledged that returning to historically high production levels of more than three million barrels per day would require “tens of billions of dollars and time”.

Trump told the New York Times on Thursday that only time will tell how long Washington intends to maintain its control over Caracas.

When asked whether he was talking about three months, six months, a year, or more, he replied, “I think it will go on for a much longer period”.