Adds details throughout.
ExxonMobil's chief executive and other industry leaders told President Donald Trump on Friday there would need to be significant changes in Venezuela before committing to large investments in the country's oil sector.
The oil industry executives convened at the White House said they see potential in Venezuela, which they say could see modest near-term production gains with the easing of US sanctions that have restricted investment for years. Venezuela claims the world's largest oil reserves at 303bn bl. But executives say there must be durable changes in the country before they could commit to new investments. Earlier on Friday, Trump claimed that the oil companies visiting the White House were going to invest at least $100bn into the South American country.
"If we look at the legal and commercial constructs and frameworks in place today in Venezuela today, it's uninvestible," ExxonMobil chief executive Darren Woods said during a public section of the meeting with Trump that lasted more than an hour.
Trump has pushed for a rapid return of US oil companies into Venezuela after he orchestrated the removal of its president, Nicolas Maduro, in a surprise raid on 3 January. Trump said his administration will probably decide today or "very shortly" which oil companies would be allowed to go into Venezuela, and warned executives at the White House that he would find other companies if they did not want to invest.
"If you don't want to go in, just let me know, because I've got 25 people that aren't here today that are willing to take your place," Trump said.
Some production increases possible
Oil companies already operating in Venezuela said they could increase production in the near-term with investments into existing assets. Chevron can double its liftings from Venezuela immediately and increase its production by 50pc over 18-24 months, vice chairman Mark Nelson said. Chevron imported 120,000 b/d from Venezuela in December, and was able to produce over 200,000 b/d at its Petropiar joint venture with PdV as of 2024.
Spain's Repsol is ready to triple its current output of 45,000 b/d within 2-3 years, chief executive Josu Jon Imaz said. Like Chevron, Repsol and its partner Italy's Eni already are operating in joint ventures with state-owned PdV. Repsol and Eni account for half of Venezuela's natural gas output, and they stand to benefit if the country's power grid improves, Imaz said.
"We now have a few billion dollars worth of opportunities to invest in subject to [sanctions authorities] approval," Shell chief executive Wael Sawan said at the meeting.
Shell has partnered with Trinidad and Tobago to develop Venezuela's offshore Dragon gas field, aiming to transport that gas as feedstock to Trinidad's 11.8mn t/yr (1.6bn cf/d) Atlantic LNG export terminal. Trump's administration last year revoked Shell's sanctions waiver allowing further work, only to regrant it with restrictive conditions in October.
Executives from oil trading companies Trafigura and Vitol said they were ready to start selling Venezuelan crude, with Trafigura offering the first such cargo next week.
'Significant changes' needed
But oil companies that left Venezuela nearly two decades ago when their assets were expropriated said they were cautious about a quick return. ExxonMobil has had its assets seized by the country twice, and returning a third time would require "some pretty significant changes", Woods said.
ConocoPhillips chief executive Ryan Lance said there should be discussions of restructuring the "entire Venezuela energy system," including state-owend oil company PdV, and adding banks to future discussions, including the US Export Import Bank.
Trump said he would provide "total safety, total security" for oil companies that go into Venezuela, which he said could be achieved by working with Venezuela's government. But he rejected the prospects of helping the industry recover past investments.
"We're not going to look at what people lost in the past, because that was their fault," Trump said during a discussion with ConocoPhillips' Lance about its $12bn in expropriated assets. "You'll make it back, one way or another."
ConocoPhillips is close to satisfying at least part of that claim following the court-approved sale of PdV-owned US refiner Citgo. A US federal court in Delaware ordered Citgo to be sold for $5.9bn to satisfy the more than $20bn in claims by ConocoPhillips and other companies. A federal appeals court on 6 January asked if the removal of Maduro could affect the decision.
Some in Trump's cabinet have acknowledged the wariness by the oil industry in returning to Venezuela, given the uncertainty over its long-term political stability. Although "big oil companies, who have corporate boards, are not interested", there is interest from independents, US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday.
"They want to get to Venezuela yesterday," Bessent said.
Oil companies have been cautious about making major new investments, even in lower-risk shale production, because of lower oil prices. Nymex WTI front-month crude futures on Friday settled near $59/bl. Trump has recently pushed for a vast increase in the imports of Venezuelan crude, starting with the 30mn-50mn bl of previously sanctioned crude into the US. Cabinet officials, including Bessent, have previously backed a targeted oil price of $50/bl as a way of easing inflation pressures.
