Donald Trump has said he may block ExxonMobil from investing in Venezuela after the oil company’s chief executive described the country as “uninvestable” during a White House meeting last week.
The comments were made by Exxon’s chief executive, Darren Woods, during a meeting on Friday attended by Trump and at least 17 senior executives from major oil companies.
The meeting took place less than a week after US forces captured and removed Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, from power in a surprise overnight operation. Trump urged the executives to commit about $100bn to revitalise Venezuela’s oil industry.
Woods told the president that Venezuela would need to change its laws before it could become an attractive destination for investment. His remarks quickly overshadowed the White House’s efforts to project confidence and momentum following the meeting.
“I didn’t like Exxon’s response,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday as he returned to Washington. “I’ll probably be inclined to keep Exxon out. I didn’t like their response. They’re playing too cute.”
Exxon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Exxon, ConocoPhillips and Chevron were once among the most prominent foreign partners of Venezuela’s state oil company, PDVSA.
Between 2004 and 2007, the government of the late president Hugo Chávez nationalised much of the oil industry. While Chevron later negotiated agreements to continue operating alongside PDVSA, Exxon and ConocoPhillips exited the country and pursued arbitration cases over seized assets.
According to court rulings, Venezuela now owes more than $13bn collectively to Exxon and ConocoPhillips as compensation for the expropriations.
Woods told Trump that Exxon had twice had assets seized in Venezuela and that returning would require significant legal and regulatory changes.
“We’ve had our assets seized there twice, and so you can imagine to re-enter a third time would require some pretty significant changes from what we’ve historically seen here,” he said.
He added that durable investment protections and reforms to Venezuela’s hydrocarbons law would be required. “If we look at the legal and commercial frameworks in place in Venezuela today, it’s uninvestable,” Woods said.
ConocoPhillips’ chief executive, Ryan Lance, told Trump that his company was Venezuela’s largest non-sovereign creditor. He called for a restructuring of the country’s debt and a comprehensive overhaul of the energy sector, including PDVSA.
Trump said ConocoPhillips would recover a substantial portion of what it was owed but suggested the process would begin anew. “We’re not going to look at what people lost in the past because that was their fault,” he said.
The president also said his administration would determine which companies would be permitted to operate in Venezuela.
“You’re dealing with us directly. You’re not dealing with Venezuela at all,” Trump told the executives. “We don’t want you to deal with Venezuela.”
On Saturday, Trump signed an executive order preventing courts or creditors from seizing revenue linked to Venezuelan oil sales held in US Treasury accounts.
