Trump Says US Oil Companies To Spend $100 Billion Of Their Money On Venezuela, Do Not Need Federal Funding

• The White House is expected to finalize a deal with the oil companies on Friday or shortly thereafter, Trump said.
• However, major oil CEOs present at the meeting did not clearly commit to a Venezuela oil plan.
• In a post on Truth Social earlier, the president said that the U.S. had seized a Venezuelan oil tanker and that the oil seized would be sold by the U.S.

President Donald Trump at a White House meeting on Friday said that U.S. oil companies will spend their own money to revive Venezuela’s oil market.

In a meeting with top executives of oil companies like Chevron (CVX), Exxon Mobil (XOM), and ConocoPhillips (COP), Trump said that the big oil companies would spend “at least $100 billion” to revive Venezuela’s oil infrastructure and drill more oil.

The decision on which oil companies will enter Venezuela will be decided by the U.S., Trump said. The White House is expected to finalize a deal with the companies on Friday or shortly thereafter, he added.

Non-Committal Oil Companies

While the CEOs of the major oil companies present at the meeting commented on the plans, they did not clearly commit to a Venezuela oil deal.

ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods said that a company team would assess the situation in Venezuela, provided they have a security guarantee. Meanwhile, ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan Lance highlighted the company’s $12 billion loss from the previous business in Venezuela, without committing to operating in the country during the meeting.

Chevron, the only major U.S. oil company still operating in Venezuela, provided details of its present operations in the country rather than elaborating on future plans.

Venezuela Operations

Trump said in the meeting that he does not “think” another attack on Venezuela would be necessary, citing the country’s cooperation with the U.S.

In a post on Truth Social earlier on Friday, the president said that the U.S. had seized a Venezuelan oil tanker that had departed without the U.S.’s approval, adding that the oil seized would be sold by the U.S.

China And Russia

The president also said that he would sell oil to China and Russia after his administration took control of Venezuela’s oil reserves. “China can buy all the oil they want from us…Russia can get all the oil they need from us,” he said, adding that the oil companies would be open for business almost immediately.

“If we didn’t do this, China would have been there and Russia would have been there,” he added.

Market Reactions

Shares of CVX closed nearly 2% higher on Friday, with retail sentiment around the stock staying at ‘extremely bullish’ levels amid ‘extremely high’ message levels. Shares of the company edged 0.17% higher in after-market hours at the time of writing.

Shares of XOM closed 1.4% higher with retail sentiment around the stock staying at ‘extremely bullish’ levels amid ‘extremely high’ message levels. Shares of COP closed 1.21% lower on Friday.

Meanwhile, U.S. equities closed higher on Friday. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), which tracks the S&P 500 index, closed 0.66% higher while the Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (QQQ) was up 1% at market close. The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (DIA) closed 0.51% higher. Retail sentiment around the S&P 500 ETF on Stocktwits was in the ‘bullish’ territory.

The United States Oil Fund LP (USO) closed 0.34% higher, edging up 0.03% in after-market trade at the time of writing. Meanwhile, the ProShares Ultra Bloomberg Crude Oil (UCO) was up 0.3% at market close, remaining relatively unchanged in after-hours. 

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