Donald Trump promises oil executives ‘total safety’ for investing in Venezuela

President Donald Trump on Friday called on oil executives to rush back into Venezuela as the White House looks to quickly secure USD 100 billion in investments to revive the countrys ability to fully tap into its expansive reserves of petroleumSince the US military raid to capture former Venezuelan leader Nicolaacutes Maduro on Saturday Trump has quickly pivoted to portraying the move as a newfound economic opportunity for the US seizing tankers carrying Venezuelan oil and saying the US is taking over the sales of 30 million to 50 million barrels of previously sanctioned Venezuelan oil and will be controlling sales worldwide indefinitelyTrump as he opened the meeting with oil industry executives sought to assure them that they need not be skeptical of quickly investing in and in some cases returning to the South American country with a history of state asset seizures as well as ongoing US sanctions and the current political uncertaintyYou have total safety Trump told the executives Youre dealing with us directly and not dealing with Venezuela at all We dont want you to deal with VenezuelaTrump added Our giant oil companies will be spending at least USD 100 billion of their money not the governments money They dont need government money But they need government protectionTrump welcomed the oil executives to the White House after US forces earlier Friday seized their fifth tanker over the past month that has been linked to Venezuelan oil The action reflected the determination of the US to fully control the exporting refining and production of Venezuelan petroleum a sign of the Trump administrations plans for ongoing involvement in the sector as it seeks commitments from private companiesIts all part of a broader push by Trump to keep gasoline prices low At a time when many Americans are concerned about affordability the incursion in Venezuela melds Trumps assertive use of presidential powers with an optical spectacle meant to convince Americans that he can bring down energy pricesAt least 100 Billion Dollars will be invested by BIG OIL all of whom I will be meeting with today at The White House Trump said Friday in a predawn social media postThe White House said it invited oil executives from 17 companies including Chevron which still operates in Venezuela as well as ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips which both had oil projects in the country that were lost as part of a 2007 nationalization of private businesses under Maduros predecessor Hugo ChaacutevezIf we look at the commercial constructs and frameworks in place today in Venezuela today its uninvestable said Darren Woods the ExxonMobil CEO And so significant changes have to be made to those commercial frameworks the legal system there has to be durable investment protections and there has to be change to the hydrocarbon laws in the countryOther companies invited included Halliburton Valero Marathon Shell Singaporebased Trafigura Italybased Eni and Spainbased Repsol as well as a vast swath of domestic and international companies with interests ranging from construction to the commodity marketsLarge US oil companies have so far largely refrained from affirming investments in Venezuela as contracts and guarantees need to be in place Trump has suggested that the US would help to backstop any investmentsVenezuelas oil production has slumped below one million barrels a day Part of Trumps challenge to turn that around will be to convince oil companies that his administration has a stable relationship with Venezuelas interim President Delcy Rodriacuteguez as well as protections for companies entering the marketWhile Rodriguez has publicly denounced Trump and the ouster of Maduro the US president has said that to date Venezuelas interim leader has been cooperating behind the scenes with his administrationTyson Slocum director of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizens energy program criticised the gathering and called the US militarys removal of Maduro violent imperialism Slocum added that Trumps goal appears to be to hand billionaires control over Venezuelas oilMeanwhile the United States and Venezuelan governments said Friday they were exploring the possibility of restoring diplomatic relations between the two countries and a delegation from the Trump administration arrived in the South American nation FridayThe small team of US diplomats and diplomatic security officials traveled to Venezuela to make a preliminary assessment about the potential reopening of the US Embassy in Caracas the State Department said in a statementTrump also announced Friday hed meet with President Gustavo Petro in early February but called on the Colombian leader to make quick progress on stemming flow of cocaine into the USTrump following the ouster of Maduro had made vague threats to take similar action against Petro describing the Colombia leader as a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United StatesTrump abruptly changed his tone Wednesday about his Colombian counterpart after a friendly phone call in which he invited Petro to visit the White House The seeming deacutetente between Petro a leftist and Trump a conservative appears to reflect that their shared interests override their deep differencesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever