Oil dips after US capture of Venezuela's president and $2bn investment plan

The price of oil fell as investors digested the impact of the US capture of the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, and news that a former Chevron executive is seeking to raise $2bn to invest in the country's oil sector. Brent crude dropped 0.7% to $60.33 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate fell 0.54% to $56.01 a barrel in early trading on Monday, after Donald Trump pledged to unlock Venezuela’s oil reserves; prices later recovered some ground and were down 0.1%.

Venezuela now produces about 1% of global oil output after years of underinvestment, US trade sanctions and a naval blockade, but holds about 17% of global crude oil reserves, the US Energy Information Administration says. Trump said US companies would “go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country”.

None of the biggest US oil companies had commented on that claim, while Ali Moshiri, formerly head of Chevron’s Latin American operations, told the Financial Times his Amos Global Energy Management fund was preparing a $2bn private placement memorandum and had identified several investment targets.

Analysts warned the recovery of Venezuelan output could be slow.

Key Topics

Business, Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, Ali Moshiri, Brent Crude, Amos Global Energy