US President Donald Trump on Friday pushed top oil companies to invest big in Venezuela as his administration seeks to control the Opec nation's oil sales.
Mr Trump said he wants the world's largest oil companies to invest $100 billion in the South American country, to expand its production after the US captured president Nicolas Maduro during an overnight raid last week.
He praised a recent decision by Venezuela to provide 50 million barrels of crude oil to the US, adding that the US would immediately begin refining and selling Venezuelan oil “indefinitely”.
Seventeen companies attended Friday's roundtable at the White House including Chevron, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips. Several smaller companies were also invited to the meeting.
“We're going to be making the decision as to which oil companies are going to go in,” Mr Trump said.
Chevron is the only US oil company currently operating in Venezuela after former president Hugo Chavez seized assets from major US oil companies roughly 20 years ago. Chevron vice chairman Mark Nelson said the company is committed to investing in Venezuela.
Venezuela has an estimated 303 billion barrels of crude oil reserves, but only produces about 1 per cent of the world's oil because of its neglected infrastructure. Its current output stands at about 1.1 million barrels per day, compared to 4 million bpd in the 1970s.
Among the US oil majors that left Venezuela in 2007 is ExxonMobil. Chief executive Darren Woods said the country is currently “uninvestable” without significant changes and major hurdles remain, but said those changes can be put in place.
“There are a number of legal commercial frameworks that would have to be established to even understand what kind of returns we get on the investments,” Mr Woods said.
Mr Trump said there would be security guarantees for companies to enter Venezuela, although he did not provide details on how the US would put in place such measures.
The Venezuelan government on Thursday said it had begun releasing political prisoners, in a possible sign it is yielding to pressure from the US. Following the announcement, Mr Trump said he had cancelled a second wave of attacks on the country.
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright, a former oil executive, is expected to play a major role in the process of selling Venezuela's oil and rebuilding its infrastructure. During a Miami forum this week, Mr Wright said the US needs to control Venezuela's oil sales “indefinitely”.
In another effort to assert control over Venezuelan oil, the US has been seizing tankers accused of carrying sanctioned oil, with the fifth ship taken on Friday.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has suggested some of the oil from the seized vessels could be sold as part of an earlier deal, in which Venezuela would provide 30-50 millions barrels of oil to the US.
