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Exxon surprised by Trump remarks on Sunday Exxon and ConocoPhillips face long-term re-entry challenges Chevron is the only major US company with operations in Venezuela
HOUSTON, Jan 12 (Reuters) – Exxon Mobil remains interested in visiting Venezuela and is prepared to send an evaluation team there, sources familiar with the company’s strategy told Reuters on Monday, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump said he could bar the oil company from the country.
Exxon Chief Executive Officer Darren Woods said in a White House meeting with other oil executives on Friday that Venezuela needs to change its laws to protect its investments before Exxon can ramp up operations in the country.
A few days later, President Trump told reporters on Air Force One that he didn’t like the way Exxon was responding, adding that he wanted to shut down the oil major.
Exxon executives were surprised by the incident because Woods also told Trump he believed the administration could help resolve the Venezuela issue, the person said.
Woods said Exxon may send a technical team to the country in the coming weeks to begin evaluating oil infrastructure and other assets.
ExxonMobil did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The White House meeting took place less than a week after U.S. forces captured and removed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in an overnight raid. President Trump has asked U.S. energy companies to invest $100 billion to rebuild Venezuela’s oil industry.
Exxon, ConocoPhillips, and Chevron were the main partners of Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA from 2004 to 2007, until former President Hugo Chávez nationalized the oil industry.
Chevron negotiated a deal to stay in the country, but ConocoPhillips and Exxon left, and after a lengthy arbitration case, they now owe more than $13 billion.
Future challenges
Exxon and ConocoPhillips face long-term concerns that will influence their decisions on whether to re-enter Venezuela, three industry experts told Reuters, concerns that have not changed after last week’s meeting with President Trump.
Chevron, the only U.S. oil major currently operating in Venezuela, left the meeting in a stronger position because it has room to invest in existing operations to increase production, one of the people, a former oil executive, said.
“Exxon isn’t going to sweat it unless they’re the first one to come in,” said one energy analyst, who declined to talk publicly about his customers and added that Trump’s comments would not necessarily affect any company’s long-term plans, given that large energy projects take years to build and even more years to get a return on investment.
Mike Somers, president of the American Petroleum Institute, said Monday that policy reforms are needed before the oil industry expands to Venezuela, including measures to ensure workforce security and cover the sanctity of contracts.
Somers said at a press conference that debt from past asset expropriations “represents a significant hurdle for many companies concerned about investing in this resource.”
Still, he said he believes the nation’s energy assets are large enough to garner significant interest and that the Trump administration understands the industry’s concerns.
“Venezuela’s asset base is huge and the investment potential is huge,” Somers said.
(This article has been reedited to add Exxon CEO’s full name and title in paragraph 2)
Reporting by Sheila Dunn in Houston. Edited by: Nathan Crooks and Thomas Darpinhaus
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