Trump wants to grab the oil treasure from Venezuela
A very important meeting took place in a closed room of the White House between the CEOs of the world’s largest oil companies and US President Donald Trump. The agenda was clear, Venezuela. The same Venezuela, whose President Nicolas Maduro was recently detained by the US Army in a night operation. Now Trump wants American companies to go there and extract oil, but the giants on whom he is relying for this dream have given up on investing money there.
Trump’s 100 billion dollar ‘Mega Plan’
President Trump clearly told the executives of big companies like Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Conoco-Phillips that they Venezuela Invest 100 billion dollars in the oil industry. His argument was that Venezuela’s oil infrastructure was completely rotten and only American companies could rebuild it.
Trump claimed that this step would take oil production to levels never seen before. Their mathematics is simple, cheap oil from Venezuela will come to America, due to which the American people will get energy at a lower price. He has also signed an agreement with the interim leaders of Venezuela for 50 million barrels of crude oil and has expressed hope that this supply will continue forever.
How much power is there in Trump’s plan?
Trump Has made a plan but experts do not agree with it. The biggest blow to Trump’s intentions was Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods. He bluntly said in front of the President that Venezuela is not worth investing in in the current situation. Woods’ pain is old. He reminded that his properties in Venezuela have been seized twice.
He clearly said, “We have lost our property there twice. Now to go there for the third time, we will have to see very big and concrete changes.” However, Conoco-Phillips and Exxon left about 20 years ago when their assets were nationalized. Chevron is the only American company still operating there but it too is cautious about big investments. Companies fear that they may lose money due to political instability and huge costs.
Trump has a ‘unique’ formula for profit
Seeing the hesitation of the companies, Trump also assured them of their security. He said that America will guarantee the physical and financial security of the companies investing there. Trump offered a simple formula: “Companies invest, get their money out as quickly as possible, and then the profits are divided between Venezuela, the United States and the companies.”
At the same time, Energy Minister Chris Wright indicated that the US government can help in funding big oil projects through its ‘Export-Import Bank’, so that the risks of the companies are reduced. However, critics and some Democratic lawmakers have termed this attitude of the Trump administration as “extortion”. He says that the way America is stopping Venezuelan oil tankers at sea and capturing the revenue is not right.
The world’s largest oil reserve on the verge of destruction
The reason behind this entire exercise is the plight of Venezuela. Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves, but decades of bad policies and lack of investment have pushed its production into decline. Whereas in the 1970s Venezuela used to extract 3.5 million barrels of oil every day, today it is not able to extract even a third of it. Its share in global supply has fallen to only 1%. The Trump administration believes that US control over Venezuelan oil sales and revenues is necessary so that corruption there is reduced and it does not work against America’s interests.
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