Trump met with many big oil companies to discuss investment opportunities in Venezuela’s oil infrastructure. At the start of the meeting, the US president said oil companies will be spending at least $100bn in Venezuela to rebuild the necessary capacity and infrastructure.

Gathering at the White House less than a week after the capture of Nicolás Maduro, executives from Chevron, ExxonMobil, and other companies signalled a willingness to examine new prospects in the country. However, they indicated they need significant changes to the country’s legal and commercial framework.

“The plan is for them to spend, meaning our giant oil companies will be spending at least $100bn of their money, not the government’s money. They don’t need government money, but they need government protection and need government security that when they spend all this money, it’s going to be there so they get their money back and make a very nice return,” the president said.

“The plan is for them to spend at least $100bn to rebuild the capacity and the infrastructure necessary. Venezuela has also agreed that the United States will immediately begin refining and selling up to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan crude oil, which will continue indefinitely,” he continued.

Trump said the U.S. government would provide the companies with security guarantees, but it was clear he wanted companies to push into the country.

“If you don’t want to go in, just let me know because I’ve got 25 people that aren’t here today who are willing to take your place,” Trump told the executives. He also said the U.S. and Venezuela are “working well together” to rebuild the country’s oil-and-gas infrastructure.

The public part of the meeting, which was televised, featured cabinet members and oil executives.

At the end, Trump asked the press to leave the room and said he would begin negotiating with the executives to strike a deal.

In brief remarks, oil executives – the first public statements since Maduro’s capture – expressed willingness to rebuild Venezuela’s oil infrastructure with the US government’s reassurances.

Oil executives still stress challenges ahead

Darren W. Woods, ExxonMobil’s chief executive, said the company expected “significant changes” to Venezuela’s legal and commercial landscapes in order for the company to reinvest in the country. “Today it’s uninvestable,” he said.

Woods said Venezuela is currently uninvestable without significant changes to the country’s commercial frameworks, legal system and hydrocarbon laws. He expressed confidence those changes can be put in place with the Trump administration and Venezuelan government working together.

“We’ve had our assets seized there twice,” Woods said. “You can imagine to re-enter a third time would require some pretty significant changes from what we’ve historically seen here and what is currently the state.”

As the longer-term issues are being resolved, Woods said Exxon could have a technical team visit to assess the current state of Venezuelan assets, within the next couple of weeks. Exxon first entered Venezuela in the 1940s but hasn’t been active there for almost two decades, he noted. He said Exxon could assist getting Venezuelan crude to market through its integrated businesses, which include refining and trading.

“It has to be a win-win-win proposition” for the company and shareholders, for the government of Venezuela and for the people of the country, he said.

As for Chevron, vice chairman Mark Nelson thanked Trump for his leadership and for keeping American energy at the top of his agenda.

Asked to provide an update as to conditions on the ground in Venezuela, Nelson said the company currently had 3,000 employees across four different joint ventures in Venezuela and that it had the capacity to “increase our liftings from those joint ventures 100% essentially, effective immediately”.

He said the company has brought its production in Venezuela to 240,000 barrels a day and can boost output relatively quickly.

Nelson says that operations are continuing, and expected to drastically increase over the next 18 months.

Trump said his administration would guarantee that the companies would receive protection and security from the U.S. government.