Overview
- At a White House meeting, President Trump told more than 20 oil executives that the U.S. will decide which companies can work in Venezuela and portrayed Washington as the political and security guarantor.
- Trump said China and Russia could buy Venezuelan oil through U.S.-approved channels and urged rapid, multibillion‑dollar investments to reconstruct the sector.
- Industry responses were cautious: ExxonMobil’s Darren Woods said investing is impossible under Venezuela’s current legal and commercial framework after past asset seizures, while Chevron, Repsol and Eni signaled conditional increases or readiness to invest.
- Rystad Energy estimates restoring output to 3 million barrels a day by 2040 would require about $183 billion, with early phases contingent on legal reforms, dispute resolutions and a restructuring of PDVSA.
- Eni and Repsol operate the Perla gas field that supplies over half of Venezuela’s electricity but report unpaid receivables of roughly $3 billion and $6 billion after sanctions halted crude‑for‑debt payments, as interim president Delcy Rodríguez vowed a diplomatic response to U.S. actions.