Trump meets with oil executives at White House to push for funding in Venezuela | USAEMALL.com

After the meeting with President Trump, Chevron issued a statement thanking him “for his leadership and support of American energy.”

Chevron, which is currently the only major U.S. oil company with a presence in Venezuela, said: “For more than a century, Chevron has been a part of Venezuela’s past. We remain committed to its present. And we stand ready to help it build a better future while strengthening US energy and regional security.”

The statement did not offer any specifics on Chevron’s plans. But Chevron CEO Mike Wirth said during the meeting that Chevron is aiming to increase production in Venezuela by 50% over the next 18 to 24 months by improving its existing infrastructure.

The company said its focus remains “on the safety of our people, and the integrity of our assets in strict compliance with all laws and regulations applicable to its business, as well as the sanctions frameworks provided for by the U.S. government.”

The public portion of the meeting wrapped up when the president dismissed the press to allow administration officials and the executives to speak more privately. 

“I have an idea of what I want, what I think we should have,” he said. “We have to get them to invest and then we have to get their money back as quickly as we can, and then we can divvy it all up between Venezuela, the United States and them.” 

A reporter asked the president if the administration will offer a backstop or security for U.S. oil companies if Venezuela destabilizes again. 

“They know the risks,” he responded. “There are risks. We’re going to help them out. We’re going to make it real easy. They’re going to be there for a long time. We’re going to be there, together, for a long, long time.” 

Still, the president said the oil companies will be “safe.” 

Mr. Trump said Venezuelans will get what they need from the proceeds of oil sales, U.S oil companies will profit and the U.S. will get the leftover money. 

“We want to make sure that Venezuela can survive,” he said. “You know, Venezuela needs money. And we’re going to make sure that they get money. And we’re going to get money and the oil companies are going to make something for the work they do and they’re going to get back their money.”

“We’re devising a formula, but it won’t be so much of a formula, it’s going to be what they need,” he continued. “We’re going to take care of what they need. There will be plenty leftover. We’re going to have a lot of money leftover. And the money leftover is going to the United States of America, and the oil companies are going to be very happy.”

Mr. Trump said that he is going to meet with Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado either Tuesday or Wednesday. He said she plans to come to Washington to “pay her regards to our country, really to me, but I’m a representative of the country, nothing else.”

Machado received the Nobel Peace Prize in December and has sought to cultivate a relationship with Mr. Trump. In an interview with “Face the Nation” last month, she said she dedicated her award to the president because “he finally has put Venezuela in where it should be, in terms of a priority for the United States national security.”

Still, Mr. Trump declined to back Machado as the next leader of Venezuela following Maduro’s ouster, saying she lacked support and respect from the Venezuelan people.

Asked whether Mr. Trump would change his view of whether Machado could run the country if she gave him her Nobel Prize, the president said he had to speak with her first.

“I think it’s very nice that she wants to come in, and that’s what I understand the reason is, because Norway is very embarrassed by what took place. They’re getting decimated,” he said.

The president repeated his claim that he has ended eight wars, and said that record warrants the Nobel Prize.

“I can’t think of anybody in history who should get the Nobel Prize more than me,” he said.

Mr. Trump continued: “In theory, you should get the Nobel Prize for every war you stop, every one of them was major. But I don’t care about that. What I care about is saving lives.”

A reporter asked the president if it’s more important to him to establish stability or democracy in Venezuela. 

“Well, you’re talking about maybe the same thing,” Mr. Trump responded. “You’re talking about stability or democracy? I don’t know, to me it’s almost the same thing. We want stability but we do want democracy. Ultimately, it will be democracy.” 

Specifics about Mr. Trump’s security guarantees to the oil companies are unclear. 

When asked by CBS News’ Nancy Cordes about how the U.S. plans to provide total security guarantees to the companies without putting boots on the ground, Mr. Trump said: “We’re going to work with the Venezuelan leaders and people, and we’re going to have a very safe group, and they’re going to also bring over security with them.” 

“These are not babies. These are people that drill oil in some pretty rough places. I could say a couple of those places make Venezuela look like a picnic. These are tough people,” he added. “They go into areas that you wouldn’t want to go. They go into areas that if they invited me, I’d say, ‘No thanks. I’ll see you back in Palm Beach.'” 

“In addition to that, we’ll have very good security for them. We’re going to make sure there’s very, very good security. I think the people of Venezuela are going to give you very good security.”

Earlier in the meeting, Mr. Trump told oil executives that their companies have “total safety, total security” in Venezuela. 

ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan Lance lauded Mr. Trump for focusing on Venezuela’s energy industry but noted that the company has sought billions from Venezuela after its assets were effectively seized.

ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil left Venezuela in the late 2000s, after former President Hugo Chávez demanded that foreign oil firms hand over majority ownership stakes for their ventures in Venezuela to the country’s state-run oil company. Both companies have sought billions in damages from Venezuela. Lance described ConocoPhillips as Venezuela’s largest non-sovereign creditholder.

Mr. Trump said in response that ConocoPhillips will be able to recover a lot of its money, but “we’re going to start with an even plate” and “we’re not going to look at what people lost in the past.”

The president asked Lance how much money ConocoPhillips left behind. Lance said it’s $12 billion.

“Good writeoff,” Mr. Trump joked.

“It’s already been written off,” Lance quipped in response. 

When asked whether he sees Venezuela led by Delcy Rodriguez as an ally of the U.S., Mr. Trump said “right now, they seem to be an ally.” 

“I think it’ll continue to be an ally,” he said, adding “we don’t want to have Russia there. We don’t want to have China there.” 

ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods suggested to Mr. Trump that the megacompany will need to see major changes in Venezuela before it reenters the South American country’s oil market.

Woods said “there’s an opportunity in Venezuela,” which has some of the world’s largest oil reserves.

But he noted that ExxonMobil effectively had its assets in the country seized by the government during two different waves of nationalization in the 1970s and 2000s, prompting it to leave Venezuela almost two decades ago.

“To reenter a third time would require some pretty significant changes from what we’ve historically seen here and what is currently the state,” Woods said. He called the country “uninvestable” until changes are made to the country’s legal system and commercial structure.

Woods said he’s confident that the Trump administration will be able to make the necessary changes by collaborating with the Venezuelan government. He also said in the short term, the company could send in a “technical team” to begin assessing the country’s oil industry if it gets security guarantees and an invitation from the Venezuelan government. He added that the company can offer help with production, refining and trading.

Asked whether he would ever order a mission by U.S. forces to capture Russian President Vladimir Putin, Mr. Trump told reporters, “I don’t think it’s going to be necessary.”

The president said he has had a “great relationship” with Putin, but that he’s disappointed with Russia’s leader.

Asked what Cuba should do to avoid the same fate as Venezuela, Mr. Trump said Cuba is in “bad shape.” He said Cuba relied on Venezuela for oil and money. Mr. Trump said “nobody really knows what’s going to happen to Cuba.” 

“We were discussing it before,” Mr. Trump said of Cuba. “Cuba is very different. They don’t have energy, they don’t have oil, but they would live off the oil from Venezuela, and what they do have is very strong people. And very powerful people militarily, and they would protect the people running Venezuela and they would take in a lot of money from Venezuela.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said “the people in control in Cuba have a choice to make.”

“We don’t have an interest in a destabilized Cuba, but that would be their fault because they refuse to allow the people of Cuba to have either economic or political freedom, for that matter,” Rubio said. 

Mr. Trump said that the relationship between the U.S. and the new leadership in Venezuela negated the need for a second wave of attacks in the South American country. Still, he reminded meeting attendees that the U.S. still has a “giant armada” in the Caribbean. 

“We are getting along so well with the people that are involved in representing Venezuela that I don’t think we’re going to have any — I don’t think it’s going to be necessary to do the second wave,” he said. “We were planning on the second wave, but the first wave was so powerful and so good and so strong, and frankly, the people in the country, they really, they did the right thing. They were smart. They did the right thing. They didn’t want to go through a second wave.”

Mr. Trump said the U.S. still has a “tremendous number of the most powerful ships of the world” off the coast of Venezuela.

“I don’t think we’re going to have to use that,” he said. “I’m happy to say that. I don’t think we’re going to have to use that at all.”

Delcy Rodriguez, who served as vice president under Maduro and is his longtime confidant, was sworn in as the country’s interim president earlier this week.

If the U.S. didn’t take control of Venezuela’s oil, Russia or China would have, the president said. 

“One thing I think everyone has to know is that if we didn’t do this, China or Russia would have done it,” he told the oil executives.  

“I told China and I told Russia, ‘We get along with you very well, we like you very much, we don’t want you there,'” he continued. “You’re not going to be there. And if we didn’t do this, China would have been there and Russia would have been there, maybe they both would have been there together, but they’re not going to be there now.” 

Mr. Trump said China can buy “all the oil they want from us” and Russia “can get all the oil they need from us.” 

He said the U.S. will be making Venezuelan oil available “almost immediately.” 

The president said the assembled companies are “treasured partners in bringing the nation of Venezuela back to life” and said that if they don’t want to go invest in Venezuela, there are “25 people that aren’t here today that are willing to take your place.” 

Mr. Trump said the deal will generate “tremendous wealth” for the companies and “great wealth” for the American people. It would also help restore Venezuela’s economy, he said. 

The president expressed optimism about the future of the U.S. and Venezuela following Maduro’s removal from power and predicted the two nations will now work closely together.

“The departure of Maduro makes possible an incredible future for both nations, Venezuela and the United States,” he said. “We will more closely integrate the economies of two major energy powers in the Western Hemisphere.”

Mr. Trump predicted that the U.S. will see lower energy prices as a result of its involvement in Venezuela and efforts to revive its energy infrastructure.

Experts told CBS News that U.S. companies are unlikely to rush to re-enter Venezuela’s oil industry and will likely want more clarity on the landscape in the South American country before investing billions of dollars to upgrade its infrastructure.

Mr. Trump said the U.S. helped build Venezuela’s oil infrastructure, but then the country “stole” those assets from the U.S. 

“They stole our assets like we were babies,” he told the oil executives. “And the United States did absolutely nothing about it, so now we’re doing everything about it,” he said. 

“So they stole from us and it was taken by socialists and communists at the time, and Venezuela was going bad, really bad,” he continued. “And as much oil as they have, they’re producing almost nothing.” 

“We’re taking back what was taken from us,” he said. “They took our oil industry — we built that entire oil industry.” 

Mr. Trump told the executives that their companies now have “total safety, total security” in Venezuela. 

“One of the reasons you couldn’t go in, you had no guarantees,” Mr. Trump said. “You had no security. But now you have total security. It’s a whole different Venezuela.” 

Returning to the topic at hand, the president said, “We’re going to discuss how these great American companies can help rapidly rebuild Venezuela’s dilapidated oil industry and bring millions of barrels of oil production to benefit the United States, the people of Venezuela and the entire world.”

During his opening remarks, Mr. Trump stepped away from the table to admire the work underway to construct the new ballroom at the White House.

“Wow, what a view. This is the door to the ballroom,” he said. “Unusual time to look but I figured we might as well.”

Mr. Trump said the ballroom will be the site of future presidential inaugurations and other events, and include bulletproof glass windows and ceilings.

“We’re ahead of schedule on the ballroom, and under budget,” he said. 

Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and other administration officials also looked at the work before the meeting began. 

Surrounded by oil executives and top administration officials, the president began the meeting at a U-shaped set of tables in the East Room. 

Mr. Trump began the meeting by saying the U.S. is doing extremely well, and Venezuela is cooperating with the U.S. The president said the operation to extract Maduro happened three days ago, although it was nearly a week ago. 

“Today I’m delighted to welcome almost two dozen of the biggest and most respected oil and gas executives in the world to the White House,” he said. 

Executives from the following firms are expected to be on hand for the meeting, according to a White House official:

• Chevron
• Exxon
• ConocoPhillips
• Continental
• Halliburton
• HKN
• Valero
• Marathon
• Shell
• Trafigura
• Vitol Americas
• Repsol
• Eni
• Aspect Holdings
• Tallgrass
• Raisa Energy
• Hilcorp

The U.S. has imposed a “quarantine” on Venezuelan oil in recent weeks, and American forces seized another oil tanker linked to the country on Friday, the fifth ship commandeered in the campaign. Rubio said this week that the quarantine gives the U.S. “tremendous leverage” over Venezuela and that the U.S. will soon begin selling up to 50 million barrels of sanctioned oil on the open market. The U.S., Rubio said, will control the proceeds.

Since Venezuela nationalized its oil industry during Hugo Chávez’s regime, Chevron has been the only major U.S. oil company with a presence there. It remains unclear whether any other firms plan to enter the market imminently. 

Some experts say drawing in foreign investment could take years due to a combination of high costs, political instability and a history of the Venezuelan government nationalizing oil assets. And Venezuelan crude oil tends to be heavy and tough to refine, though some refineries on the Gulf Coast are equipped to process it.

Earlier this week, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt explained how the oil sales would work. 

Mr. Trump has said Venezuela will turn over 30 million to 50 million barrels to the U.S. to be sold at market value. Proceeds from the sale of Venezuelan oil products will go to both Americans and Venezuelans “at the discretion of the United States government,” she said. 

“The interim authorities have agreed to release that oil to the United States, so it will be arriving here at home very soon,” Leavitt said. “The United States government has already begun marketing Venezuelan crude oil in the global marketplace for the benefit of the United States, engaged the world’s leading commodity marketers, key banks to execute and provide financial support for these crude oil and crude product sales.” 

“All proceeds from the sale of Venezuelan crude oil and products will first settle in U.S.-controlled accounts at globally recognized banks to guarantee the legitimacy and integrity of the ultimate distribution of proceeds,” she continued. “And those funds will be dispersed for the benefit of the American people and the Venezuelan people at the discretion of the United States government.”  

Just after 4 a.m. this morning, the president announced on Truth Social that he has “cancelled the previously expected second Wave of Attacks” on Venezuela, at least for now. 

The president cited apparent cooperation from the country’s new regime, which he said is “releasing large numbers of political prisoners as a sign of ‘Seeking Peace.'”

Still, he said, “all ships will stay in place for safety and security purposes.”

Writing on Truth Social ahead of the meeting, the president said it’s “too bad” the ballroom he’s building isn’t finished yet “because, if it were, it would be PACKED.” 

“We apologize to those Oil Companies that we cannot take today, but Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, will see them over the next week,” he wrote. “Everyone is in daily contact. Today’s meeting will almost exclusively be a discussion on Venezuelan Oil, and our longterm relationship with Venezuela, its Security, and People.”

“A very big factor in this involvement will be the reduction of Oil Prices for the American People,” he added. “Additionally, and perhaps most importantly of all, will be the stoppage of Drugs and Criminals coming into the United States of America. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”