Trump pressures billion-dollar investment to resume production, US oil companies take cautious stance on returning to Venezuela.

Senior executives from major oil companies in the United States expressed a cautious stance to President Trump regarding the issue of returning to Venezuela. Despite the president's request for related companies to invest at least $100 billion to restore the production in this oil-rich country, multiple executives' statements at the White House indicated that the companies still have concerns about the risks. On Friday, Trump convened nearly 20 representatives from the oil industry at the White House and stated that they could reach an agreement "today or very soon" to resume operations in Latin American countries. He pressured the attendees on the spot, stating that if they were not willing to enter Venezuela, "there are 25 people willing to take their place." However, the executives' statements indicated that the president still needs to put in more effort to convince them. Darren Woods, CEO of Exxon Mobil Corporation, candidly stated that Venezuela is currently "not investable," pointing out that the company's assets had been confiscated by Venezuelan authorities twice before. He said, "for the third return, there needs to be substantial changes in legal and business frameworks, and there must be lasting investment protection." Even Harold Hamm, a long-time donor to Trump and founder of Continental Resources, did not commit to investing, although he said it was "exciting" from an exploration perspective. In order to gain support, Trump mentioned that the United States would provide security guarantees for companies entering Venezuela, although he did not specify the specific way and predicted that companies could quickly recover the cost of equipment investment. "You are dealing directly with us, not with Venezuela," he emphasized. However, at the same time, he explicitly stated that the U.S. would not compensate companies for the losses they had previously incurred in the region. Trump hopes to rely on Western oil companies to restore Venezuela's dilapidated oil infrastructure and emphasized that necessary protection would be provided. This pressure also corresponds to a broader effort by the Republican Party to ease living costs before the midterm elections. The president frequently mentioned the decline in oil and gasoline prices, with the average price of unleaded gasoline in the U.S. being around $2.81 per gallon, to appease consumers. However, low oil prices also make oil companies uneasy. Some U.S. independent oil and gas producers are worried that the current prices have compressed the economic viability of domestic drilling, and if a large amount of Venezuelan crude oil flows back, it could further depress oil prices and force more oil wells to shut down. The market has reacted to the government's plan to sell over 50 million barrels of Venezuelan crude oil, with U.S. benchmark WTI crude oil futures hovering around $59 per barrel on Friday. Industry insiders are also concerned that attending the White House meeting could be seen as participating in "opportunistic" resource competition. Meanwhile, companies must carefully balance their stance under the pressure from the president to invest. Previously, during his 2024 re-election campaign, Trump promised to relax some environmental regulations at an energy roundtable meeting and hoped that oil companies would raise $1 billion for his political operations. Currently, Chevron Corporation still operates in Venezuela under special U.S. licenses, while Exxon Mobil Corporation and ConocoPhillips exited Venezuela after former President Chavez nationalized assets. Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world, but due to years of neglect and foreign divestment, production has fallen to less than 1 million barrels per day. Repairing environmental damage, rebuilding abandoned drilling rigs, aging pipelines, and damaged equipment may take several years and hundreds of billions of dollars in investment to slightly increase production, let alone return to the peak of nearly 4 million barrels per day in the 1970s. Although Trump has hinted in the past about providing subsidies for overseas oil and gas projects, Interior Secretary Doug Bergum reiterated on Friday that Washington is unlikely to provide financial support. "Capital will come from capital markets and energy companies," he said, "Apart from security concerns, I don't think these companies need financial support from the U.S." Energy Secretary and former oil company executive Chris Wright attended the meeting with Bergum and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Trump also mentioned that due to Venezuela's cooperation in releasing some political prisoners, he had halted the second round of strikes. However, the U.S. military remains deployed in the region, and on Friday the U.S. Coast Guard once again boarded an oil tanker, with tensions still high.