US President Donald Trump on Sunday said that he was inclined to exclude Exxon Mobil from his push to send US oil companies to Venezuela to build the country's oil infrastructure, saying he was unhappy with the company's response to his proposal.
Trump had on Friday called a meeting with around 20 oil company executives to push them to start operations in Venezuela, a proposal against which Exxon Mobil head expressed his reservations.
“I didn't like Exxon's response,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on his way back to Washington on Sunday.
"I'll probably be inclined to keep Exxon out. I didn't like their response. They're playing too cute," he added.
What did Exxon say?
During Friday's meeting with Donald Trump and his aides, Exxon Mobil had one of the strongest responses against the administration's plans, calling Venezuela “uninvestable”.
“We've had our assets seized there twice, and so you can imagine to re-enter a third time would require some pretty significant changes from what we've historically seen here,” Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods told Trump on Friday.
Woods said that Exxon needed durable investment protections introduced and the country's hydrocarbons law also needed to be reformed.
“If we look at the legal and commercial constructs and frameworks in place today in Venezuela today, it's uninvestable,” he said.
Trump's latest comment on Sunday also indicate the the challenge of persuading the US oil industry to commit to an ambitious reconstruction of Venezuela’s once-mighty energy sector.
Trump's guarantee to revive Venezuela
Reviving Venezuela's oil industry and undoing years of mismanagement and underinvestment may take $100 billion and a decade, according to a report by Bloomberg.
Despite US moves over the past week to take full control of Venezuelan oil exports, many questions remain over how major investment on the ground could be guaranteed over such a protracted period in a country beset by corruption and insecurity.
On Sunday, Trump said that his government will provide all required guarantees to oil companies if they invest in Venezuela.
“Guarantees that they’re going to be safe, that there’s going to be no problem. And there won’t be.”
Trump, however, did not specify in what way he might seek to include Exxon. The oil giant did not issue a response to the statement.
Chevron Corp., Exxon’s biggest US rival, is the only Western oil major to have continued operating in Venezuela while Maduro was in charge. Chevron Vice Chairman Mark Nelson said at the White House meeting on Friday that his company was poised to significantly ramp up output
