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Donald Trump said the US government could reimburse oil companies that invest in Venezuela as he looks to coax energy groups into spending “billions of dollars” to revitalise the country’s ailing infrastructure.
The president on Monday acknowledged that oil producers and service groups would need to spend a “very substantial amount of money” to upgrade Venezuela’s decaying energy infrastructure but insisted they would “do very well”.
“A tremendous amount of money will have to be spent, and the oil companies will spend it, and then they’ll get reimbursed by us, or through revenue,” he said in an interview on NBC News.
Trump’s comments come as secretary of state Marco Rubio and other senior officials head to Capitol Hill to brief lawmakers on their strategy in Venezuela.
There is scepticism that the administration has a clear plan for the South American country following the shock military operation this weekend to capture strongman leader Nicolás Maduro and transport him to the US to face trial.
Trump has placed energy at the heart of his designs for Venezuela’s future. He said on Saturday that US oil companies — most of which left the country in recent decades following expropriations by Caracas — would return to the country to revive the country’s ailing energy sector, lured by the promise of huge oil riches.
But despite Venezuela’s vast oil wealth — it is home to the world’s largest crude reserves — US Big Oil groups have been reluctant to rush to commit or invest with the country’s leadership in upheaval.
Experts have warned that it will take significant time and investment to revive Venezuelan oil output, which has fallen from 3.7mn barrels a day in 1970 to less than 1mn b/d.
Trump said on Monday that the oil industry could get new operations “up and running” in less than 18 months. “I think we can do it in less time than that, but it’ll be a lot of money.”
