WASHINGTON−US president Donald Trump pressed top oil executives Friday to invest in Venezuela’s vast reserves, but was met with a cautious reception  with one major CEO dismissing the country as “uninvestable” without sweeping reforms. 

Trump told the industry leaders that his administration not Caracas would decide which firms are allowed to operate in Venezuela following the stunning capture of president Nicolas Maduro.

“We’re going to be making the decision as to which oil companies are going to go in… (we’re) going to cut a deal with the companies,” Trump said at the White House, arguing that foreign firms had faced no meaningful protections under Maduro.

“But now you have total security. It’s a whole different Venezuela,” he added.

Trump said oil companies would “deal with us directly,” signaling that the US government would attempt to cut the oil-rich, cash-poor Latin American nation completely out of the loop when it came to exploiting its own resources.

Vice president JD Vance, secretary of State Marco Rubio and energy secretary Chris Wright attended alongside executives from Chevron, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, Halliburton, Valero, Marathon, Shell, Trafigura, Vitol Americas and Repsol, among others.

While some of those executives appeared more open to investing than ExxonMobil, analysts told AFP that Trump’s push to revive Venezuela’s oil industry rests on shaky economic and strategic ground.

Chevron is currently the only US firm licensed to operate in Venezuela.
ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips exited in 2007 after refusing demands by then-president Hugo Chavez to cede majority control to the state. 

– Nampa/AFP