Trump: Big Plans for U.S. Oil Companies After Venezuela Strike

Written by Brian Ford, Editor-in-Chief for IIR News (Sugar Land, Texas)

---

Summary

Following the capture of Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro, U.S. President Donald Trump would like to see U.S. spend billions of dollars to revamp Venezuela's oil infrastructure.

---

U.S. to Control Venezuela for Now

Saying that the U.S. will "run" Venezuela for an undetermined period following the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, U.S. President Donald Trump has asserted that he wants U.S. oil companies to spend billions of dollars to help repair Venezuela's ailing oil infrastructure.

"We are going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition," Trump said during a Saturday press briefing. "We can't take a chance that somebody else takes over Venezuela that doesn't have the good of the Venezuelan people in mind."

"We're going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure and start making money for the country," Trump continued.

Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Oil & Gas Production Plant Database contains profiles of nine operational oil and gas-related facilities in Venezuela. GMI subscribers can learn more from these detailed plant profiles.

Industrial Info also is tracking nine operational petroleum refining facilities in Venezuela. In addition, Industrial Info is tracking 36 active petroleum refining turnarounds, revamps, rehabilitations, restarts and refurbishments in the country, worth a total of US$207.5 million.

Venezuela, which nationalized its oil industry in 1976, sits on the world's largest proven oil reserves, estimated at more than 300 billion barrels, or roughly 17% of global reserves.

Deteriorating Oil Infrastructure

Several factors have greatly hampered Venezuela's energy sector, "most notably government mismanagement, international sanctions and the country's economic crisis," according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), which added, "These factors led to a lack of investment and maintenance in the energy sector and a deteriorating infrastructure."

From 2011 to 2021, Venezuela's total energy production decreased by an annual average rate of 8.2%, the EIA said.

The U.S. imposed oil sanctions on Venezuela in 2019, greatly restricting its oil exports.

"As everyone knows, the oil business in Venezuela has been a bust, a total bust, for a long period of time," Trump said. "They were pumping almost nothing by comparison to what they could have been pumping and what could have taken place."

He continued, "In addition, Venezuela unilaterally seized and sold American oil, American assets and American platforms, costing us billions and billions of dollars...they took all of our property. We built it... We built Venezuela's oil industry with American talent, drive and skill and the socialist regime stole it from us...This constituted one of the largest thefts of American property in the history of our country. Massive oil infrastructure was taken like we were babies."

According to Politico, the White House has told companies they must rebuild Venezuela's crude-pumping infrastructure if they want compensation for assets seized by that country. Among industry concerns are whether oil prices will rise enough to make Venezuelan crude profitable, along with safety issues and other matters.

Chevron Corporation (Houston, Texas), which has U.S. permission to still operate in Venezuela, told news outlets that it "remains focused on the safety and wellbeing of our employees, as well as the integrity of our assets. We continue to operate in full compliance with all relevant laws and regulations."

U.S. forces struck a military base overnight in Venezuela to capture Maduro and his wife. A federal indictment that was filed in New York charges the couple and others with a narco-terrorism conspiracy, alleging they were running a cocaine drug cartel and possessed machine guns and destructive devices against the U.S.

Key Takeaways

• U.S. forces struck a military base overnight in Venezuela to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife.
• U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. will run Venezuela until "safe, proper and judicious transition" of leadership in the country.
• Trump wants U.S. oil companies to spend billions of dollars to help repair Venezuela's oil infrastructure.

---

About Industrial Info Resources
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).