The giant energy companies most capable of rebuilding Venezuela’s shattered oil fields are also the most skeptical about heeding President Donald Trump’s call to pour money into the country.
That still leaves plenty of smaller oil, mining, finance and other businesses clamoring for the chance to jump in — and jamming the White House phone lines for a chance to do so, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday, echoing comments that others familiar with the situation had made to POLITICO.
“One of the things that has been incorrectly reported is that the oil companies are not interested in Venezuela,” Bessent told an audience at the Economic Club of Minnesota, according to a transcript supplied by the department. “The big oil companies who move slowly, who have corporate boards are not interested. I can tell you that independent oil companies and individuals, wildcatters, [our] phones are ringing off the hook. They want to get to Venezuela yesterday.”
The oil industry’s divide over Venezuela will be just one of the complications lurking in the backdrop of a White House meeting Friday that is expected to include Trump and executives from several big companies with experience in the South American country, including U.S.-based Exxon Mobil, Chevron and ConocoPhillips. The meeting comes nearly a week after the U.S. military carted away Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.
