Trump outlines his plan for Venezuela's oil companies: "A minimum investment of $100 billion"

WashingtonDonald Trump is the one trying to convince oil companies to invest in Venezuelan infrastructure to begin extracting crude. Even so, Friday's meeting at the White House was a display of Trump's more business-oriented side, positioning himself as the negotiator whom the companies must persuade. The US president asked representatives from companies like Chevron and Exxon what they could offer in exchange for being allowed to extract Venezuelan crude. "We can get started and, within the next few weeks, begin the evaluation," replied Darren Woods, CEO of Exxon. "That's what we want: speed and quality," Trump responded approvingly.

The Republican is the big chief who has subdued the neighboring tribe and will now decide how to divide the spoils. To begin with, he is asking for a minimum investment of "$100 billion." This is the main premise of the plan Trump presented to his guests to begin rebuilding the necessary capacity and infrastructure in Venezuela. Building an oil refining plant costs approximately $20 billion to $30 billion. In Venezuela's case, the cost could be even higher, given its minimal infrastructure and the fact that much of what exists is damaged. On Monday, in an interview on NBC, the president raised the possibility of the U.S. government reimbursing the companies' expenses. This idea appears to have been discarded when, on Friday, he emphasized that the $100 billion would have to come from private corporate capital. "They don't need government money, but they need government protection and security so that when they spend all that money, it's there to recover it and make a good return," he stated. Invited Companies

"Venezuela has also agreed that the United States will immediately begin refining and selling up to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan crude, which will continue indefinitely," the president stated. Among those present, in addition to the three US giants—Chevron, Exxon, and ConocoPhillips—were the major commodity trading companies—Vitol and Trafigura—as well as Shell, Halliburton, Continental, Valero, HKN, Marathon, Eni, Aspect Holdings, Tallgrass, and Hall. Trump has made it clear that he wants to begin extracting the country's crude oil reserves—the largest in the world, estimated by OPEC at around 303 billion barrels—as soon as possible, hoping to lower prices for consumers and gain a favorable position heading into the upcoming midterm elections.

Despite the image of power he has tried to project, the reality is that companies are viewing the offer with caution, primarily because they want legal certainty and guarantees before making any investment. "We've had our assets seized there twice, and so you can imagine that going back a third time would require quite significant changes," the Exxon CEO reminded the audience at the meeting. "Today it's not investable," he emphasized.

Trump, however, has continued to press the issue and insisted that US control over Venezuela is sufficient guarantee. "One of the reasons I couldn't go in before is that I didn't have guarantees. I didn't have security, but now I have total security. It's a completely different Venezuela," stated the president, who attended the meeting accompanied by Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, and the chief of staff, Susie Wiles.

Repsol's response

Unlike Exxon's reluctance, the Spanish company Repsol has said it is "prepared to triple" its production in Venezuela. The company is one of the few oil companies that has continued operating in Venezuela during the Chavista regime. "We are in Venezuela, Mr. President, with our partners at Eni. We produce the gas that guarantees the stability of half of Venezuela's clean electricity generation," stated the company's CEO, Josu Jon. "We are committed to this stability. And furthermore, we are on the ground: we have personnel, we have facilities, we have technical capabilities," he emphasized.

The magnate reiterated his claim that the United States built the Venezuelan oil industry, but "it was stolen from us," referring to the nationalization carried out by President Hugo Chávez in 2007. "It was stolen from us, and it was stolen by socialists and communists at that time, and Venezuela. They took our oil industry. We built this entire industry."

Russia will also be able to buy oil

The Republican has defended his intervention in Venezuela as a matter of security, following the spheres of influence vision he now endorses as the new international order. "Something I think everyone should know is that if we didn't do it, China or Russia would have." However, despite describing the two countries as a threat, he has extended an offer to buy his oil. "Russia can get all the oil it needs from us, and they like oil, even though they produce a lot; but China, Russia, and everyone else can come, and we'll be open for business almost immediately." A proposal that is quite surprising considering the sanctions imposed last year on major Russian oil companies. As he has been doing all week, Trump has also boasted again about the operation in Venezuela: "I got calls from leaders of many countries saying they were impressive." The president emphasized how the army could have "destroyed" the country if the regime hadn't cooperated after Nicolás Maduro's capture. "They've been very clever in how they've dealt with us, frankly," he said, referring to the new Venezuelan president, Delcy Rodríguez, and the rest of the executive branch. "Because that whole place could have been destroyed with a coup, and we didn't want to do that."