Trump Administration Reportedly Sets Meetings With Oil Companies Over Venezuela

WASHINGTON/HOUSTON, Jan 5 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s administration plans to meet with executives from U.S. oil companies later this week to discuss increasing Venezuela’s oil production after U.S. forces ousted leader Nicolas Maduro, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The meetings are vital to the administration’s hopes of welcoming major U.S. oil companies back to the South American country after the government seized control of U.S.-led energy operations nearly two decades ago.

The three largest U.S. oil companies — Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips and Chevron — have not yet had any discussions with the administration about Maduro’s ouster, according to four oil industry executives familiar with the matter; This contradicts Trump’s comments over the weekend that he had already held meetings with “all” US oil companies before and since Maduro’s takeover.

“None of these three companies have had discussions with the White House about operating in Venezuela, pre- or post-extraction,” one of the sources said Monday.

The upcoming meetings will be crucial to the administration’s hopes of boosting crude oil production and exports from Venezuela, a former OPEC nation that sits atop the world’s largest reserves and whose barrels can be refined by specially designed U.S. refineries. Analysts say achieving this goal will require years of work and billions of dollars of investment.

It is unclear which executives will attend future meetings and whether oil companies will attend individually or collectively.

The White House did not comment on the meetings but said it believed the U.S. oil industry was ready to move to Venezuela.

“All of our oil companies are ready and willing to make major investments in Venezuela that will rebuild oil infrastructures destroyed by the illegitimate Maduro regime,” White House spokesman Taylor Rogers said.

Exxon, Chevron and ConocoPhillips did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Trump told NBC News that the United States could provide subsidies to oil companies to enable them to rebuild Venezuela’s energy infrastructure.

Asked if the administration had briefed any oil companies before the military operation, Trump said: “No. But we were talking about the concept of ‘what if’.”

“The oil companies were certainly aware that we were considering doing something,” Trump told NBC News. But we didn’t tell them we were going to do this.”

He told NBC News it was “too early to say” whether he had personally spoken with senior executives at the three companies.

“I talk to everyone,” he said.

The three executives are expected to meet with Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Thursday, CBS News said, citing an unnamed source.

An oil industry executive told Reuters that companies would be reluctant to talk about potential Venezuelan operations in group settings with the White House, citing antitrust concerns that limit collective discussions among rivals about investment plans, timing and production levels.

US forces launched a lightning raid on Venezuela’s capital on Saturday, arresting Maduro at midnight and sending him to the US to face narcoterrorism charges.

Hours after Maduro’s capture, Trump said he expected the biggest U.S. oil companies to spend billions of dollars to boost Venezuela’s oil production, which has fallen to about a third of its peak in the past two decades due to underinvestment and sanctions.

But these plans will be hampered by a lack of infrastructure, as well as deep uncertainty about the country’s political future, the legal framework and long-term US policy, according to industry analysts.

Chevron is currently the only major American company operating in Venezuela’s oil fields.

Exxon and ConocoPhillips, meanwhile, had stories in the country before their projects were nationalized by former President Hugo Chavez.

“I don’t think you’ll see any company other than Chevron, which is already there, you know, committed to developing this resource,” said one oil industry executive who asked to remain anonymous discussing the issue.

Conoco is seeking billions of dollars in compensation for the takeover of three Chavez-run oil projects in Venezuela. Exxon was involved in lengthy arbitration cases against Venezuela after it left the country in 2007.

Meanwhile, Chevron, which exports about 150,000 barrels of crude oil per day from Venezuela to the U.S. Gulf Coast, has had to carefully maneuver with the Trump administration in recent years to maintain its presence in the country.

Investors were optimistic and believed that Washington’s move against the Venezuelan leadership would allow US firms to access oil reserves. Trump said the US embargo on Venezuelan oil remains in full force.

S&P 500 energy index rose to its highest level since March 2025; heavyweights Exxon Mobil rose 2.2% and Chevron rose 5.1%. (Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw and Sheila Dang; Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Anna Driver and Chris Reese)