U.S. oil firms cautious after Trump pushes to rebuild Venezuela's oil sector

Time reports President Trump said the operation to capture Venezuela’s ousted President Nicolás Maduro was partly a strategic economic move to rebuild the country’s oil industry and that he had consulted with oil companies "before and after" the capture. Trump said "we're going to have our very large United States oil companies" go in and spend billions to fix broken infrastructure, and White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers reiterated the administration's view that U.S.

firms are "ready and willing" to invest if sanctions are lifted. Reuters, however, reported that executives at Chevron, ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil said they had not yet spoken with the administration, and many companies have responded cautiously: Chevron said it is focused on employee safety and compliance with laws, while ConocoPhillips called it "premature to speculate" on future investments.

Markets initially rallied—the S&P 500 energy index rose to its highest since March 2025, ExxonMobil climbed 2.2% and Chevron 5.1%—even as Brent crude fell 61 cents to $60.09 a barrel after Trump said Venezuela would be "turning over" 30 million to 50 million barrels to the U.S. Experts warn rebuilding Venezuela's output is complex: the country has roughly 303 billion barrels of proven reserves but currently produces less than 1 million barrels per day, about 0.5% of global production, and its extra-heavy oil requires costly processing.

Key Topics

Business, Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, Donald Trump, Chevron, Exxonmobil