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Donald Trump will meet top oil executives on Friday in a bid to win commitments to invest up to $100bn to help rebuild and tap Venezuela’s oil resources despite concerns over security and political instability.
“At least 100 Billion Dollars will be invested by BIG OIL, all of whom I will be meeting with today at The White House,” the US president said in a social media post on Friday morning.
Representatives from more than 15 of the world’s largest oil companies and commodity traders are on the guest list to attend the 2.30pm meeting. These include the three biggest US oil producers — Chevron, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips — large trading companies Vitol and Trafigura and European oil major Shell.
Trump’s drive to open up Venezuela’s oil riches follows last week’s removal of the country’s leader Nicolás Maduro and the outline of a draft plan to control its oil sales indefinitely to shape the Latin American nation’s future.
The largest US oil companies have reacted cautiously to the administration’s strategy, saying they would need security and legal guarantees from Washington before committing large-scale investment in a country with a history of expropriating foreign oil assets.
US energy secretary Chris Wright said there were no plans to provide security guarantees to US oil companies in Venezuela.
“No plans at all right now for that. You know, we’ve got to leave our options open for sure. But, no, I think companies are going to be cautious and careful in going back down. We’re going to get a lot of direct feedback about how things are going on from businesses,” he told the US television show Morning Joe on Friday, ahead of the meeting.
Wright said no specific deals were being offered to US companies by Washington and the US administration’s role was to reduce corruption, criminality and drug running in the country to make it a better destination to attract investment into the oil sector.
“Right now we’re going to control the cash flow of that regime. We’re going to resume the selling of Venezuelan oil, which has been embargoed by the United States,” he said.
“We have an arrangement with them that we’re going to sell their oil, deliver that money back to them, as long as they live by basic rules, that they’re going to reduce criminality, reduce the running of drugs and money, and improve the conditions of the people in Venezuela.”
The US on Friday seized a fifth oil tanker, the Olina, in the Caribbean, as the Trump administration continues its campaign against ships that are under sanctions going to and from Venezuela.
Wright will attend the meeting with secretary of state Marco Rubio and interior secretary Doug Burgum, who serves as chair of Trump’s National Energy Dominance Council.
Harold Hamm, a prominent donor to Trump and founder of Continental Resources, is expected to attend, along with representatives from Halliburton, SLB, Valero, HKN, Marathon, Repsol, Eni, Aspect Holdings, Tallgrass, Raisa Energy and Hilcorp.
Chevron, which is the only US company currently on the ground in Venezuela, is expected to be represented by Mark Nelson, its vice-chair.
