Trump's new prediction for 'massive wealth' from Venezuelan oil may take a while to play out

By Gordon Gottsegen, Robert Schroeder and Claudia Assis

Chevron gets praise for having 'stuck it out,' while Exxon says it could be in Venezuela within weeks

President Donald Trump held a meeting with U.S. oil companies on Friday afternoon.

President Donald Trump called on major U.S. energy companies, traders, refiners and others who met at the White House Friday to be part of his nation-building ambitions for Venezuela, with the future of that country's major asset, crude oil, at stake.

Trump struck an optimistic tone about the energy industry's prospects in the country, praising Chevron (CVX) for having "stuck it out" in Venezuela, telling ConocoPhillips (COP) Chief Executive Ryan Lance that his company could see compensation, and prompting Exxon Mobil (XOM) CEO Darren Woods to commit to a putting team of Exxon employees on the ground in Venezuela within weeks.

"We're going to be working with Venezuela," Trump said. "American companies will have the opportunity to rebuild Venezuela's running energy infrastructure and eventually increase oil production to levels never ever seen before. When you add Venezuela and the United States together, we have 55% of the oil in the world."

Plenty of companies are lining up to be part of that effort, Trump said. "We can do this almost immediately ... this is massive wealth."

Trump also told executives that their companies would have U.S. security guarantees when operating in Venezuela. He did not elaborate.

Woods said that Venezuela at the moment is "uninvestable," and that companies will need to have "durable protections" for their investments and to see changes in Venezuela's laws governing hydrocarbons. In the short term, Exxon committed to sending a technical team to assess the situation, and the company can assist with bringing Venezuelan crude to market, he said.

Industry giants that were slated to attend Friday's meeting also included Marathon Petroleum (MPC) and Valero Energy (VLO), whose refineries on the Gulf Coast are among those tailor-made to handle Venezuela heavy crude, along with a slew of domestic and international producers, traders and oil services and logistics companies.

Shortly before the start of the meeting, Trump posted on Truth Social that a "very big factor" in the U.S. involvement with Venezuela "will be the reduction of oil prices for the American people" as well as stopping "drugs and criminals coming into the United States of America."

Venezuela's oil industry has been crumbling for years, with production dwindling to about 1 million barrels a day from around 3 million two decades ago.

U.S. oil companies, including ConocoPhillips, which says it's owed about $12 billion by Venezuela, have been hit in the past by waves of expropriations that began under then-President Hugo Chávez in the 2000s and continued under his successor, Nicolás Maduro. A U.S. military operation on Saturday landed Maduro in American custody, opening up the country for U.S. intervention.

Don't miss: What's at stake for investors when Trump meets oil bosses about Venezuela

As Trump moves to cement U.S. control of Venezuela's oil, he is vying for the upper hand in global oil markets and, at home, attempting to bring some relief at gasoline pumps.

Industry experts have doubts about how quickly Venezuelan oil could start flowing. Companies likely would require political stability and physical security as well as contractual guarantees before venturing into the country, which has endured years of turmoil.

At the meeting Friday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the U.S. will work to stabilize Venezuela and help it transition to a "normal country" for its people - and one that is supportive of U.S. interests in the region and in the world, he added.

Trump previously announced on Truth Social that major oil companies would invest at least $100 billion in Venezuela. At the meeting, he said that he believed that money would be spent "very rapidly."

Rebecca Babin, an energy trader and managing director at CIBC Private Wealth, said she was not sure whether some of Trump's guarantees would be enough to get Venezuelan crude production back to 3 million barrels a day over the next seven to 10 years. A "win" could be getting back to 1.5 million barrels a day in a year or two, she said, with smaller investments preventing China from buying discounted sanctioned barrels.

According to the White House, companies invited to Friday's event also included integrated oil companies Eni of Italy (IT:ENI), Spain's Repsol (ES:REP) and the U.K's Shell (UK:SHEL); U.S. exploration and production company Continental Resources; U.S. oil-services company Halliburton (HAL); commodity traders Vitol Americas and Trafigura; pipeline and storage operator Tallgrass Energy; and private-equity company Raisa Energy.

Some of the companies at the meeting have already seen sizable gains since Maduro's capture by the U.S. military. Chevron, which maintained operations in Venezuela after the expropriations, has seen its stock go up about 4% this week.

The S&P 500 Energy Sector Index XX:SP500.10 has gained about 2% in the week to date, while the State Street SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production exchange-traded fund XOP was off about 1% in the week.

Don't miss: Oil rises 3% this week - and not just because of Venezuela

Myra P. Saefong contributed.

-Gordon Gottsegen -Robert Schroeder -Claudia Assis

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01-09-26 1706ET

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