Trump moves to block courts from seizing Venezuelan oil revenue in US accounts
The emergency order said revenue held in foreign government deposit funds should be used to help create “peace, prosperity, and stability” in Venezuela. The order was signed Friday, less than a week after U.S. forces captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in Caracas.
Many companies have long-standing claims against the country. Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips, for example, left Venezuela nearly 20 years ago after their assets were nationalized. Both still owe billions of dollars.
ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan Lance told US President Donald Trump at Friday’s White House meeting that ConocoPhillips is the largest non-government lender in Venezuela, adding that the US government has the opportunity to regain what was lost.
Trump said ConocoPhillips would get most of its money back, but the United States would start with a clean slate. “We’re not going to look at what people have lost in the past because it was their fault,” Trump said, before asking Lance how much ConocoPhillips lost in Venezuela.
Lance said his company is $12 billion in debt.
“Well, it’s a good wipeout,” Trump said. No specific company is mentioned in Saturday’s order. It declares that the money is the sovereign property of Venezuela and is held in U.S. custody for government and diplomatic purposes and is not subject to special claims.
“President Trump is preventing the seizure of Venezuelan oil revenues that could undermine critical U.S. efforts to maintain economic and political stability in Venezuela,” the White House said in a memo.
A US deal with Venezuela’s interim leaders will supply up to 50 million barrels of crude oil to the US, which multiple refineries are specially equipped to refine.
Trump cited the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the 1976 National Emergencies Act as legal justification.
Trump signed the order the same day he met in Washington with executives from Exxon, Conoco, Chevron and other oil companies as part of a bid to encourage them to invest $100 billion in Venezuela’s oil industry.
