Senate Democrats seek oil companies’ records on Venezuela oil plans

Senate Democrats on Wednesday launched an investigation, asking major U.S. oil companies to disclose any meetings with the Trump administration about plans to control Venezuela’s oil industry. Five lawmakers sent letters to the chief executives of eight major oil companies asking them to disclose all meetings with administration officials in which Venezuelan oil assets and related issues were discussed.

The letters were signed by Senators Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Ron Wyden of Oregon, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Peter Welch of Vermont and Brian Schatz of Hawaii; Senator Edward Markey of Massachusetts separately sent his own inquiries. The senators wrote, “We would like to know the extent to which U.S.

oil and gas companies such as yours had either advance knowledge of or the ability to shape American foreign policy decisions —especially given that Congress was kept in the dark concerning the use of force until after the strikes occurred.” The letters were addressed to executives at Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Shell, Conoco Phillips, BP America Inc., Citgo Petroleum Corp., Continental Resources, Halliburton, SLB, Weatherford International and Baker Hughes.

Key Topics

Politics, Senate Democrats, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Venezuela, Donald Trump