Major U.S. oil companies are signaling caution about a large-scale return to Venezuela’s oil sector despite strong encouragement from the White House for renewed investment, industry and government sources say.

In a high-profile meeting at the White House last week, President Donald Trump called on American energy firms to invest up to $100 billion to help rebuild Venezuela’s dilapidated oil infrastructure and boost production. The administration has framed the initiative as a way to strengthen domestic energy supplies and reduce global oil prices, while offering assurances that companies undertaking the work would receive “total safety” and security support from the U.S. government.

However, executives from several of the nation’s largest oil companies expressed skepticism about plunging into operations in Venezuela under current conditions. ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods described the environment in Venezuela as “uninvestable” without significant reforms to legal, commercial, and investment protections — a caution echoed by other senior industry leaders.

Past experiences loom large in corporate calculations. ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips both exited Venezuela after their assets were nationalized decades ago and still pursue multi-billion-dollar claims related to those seizures — a history that executives say makes a third attempt at large-scale investment a challenging proposition without durable safeguards in place.

Chevron, the only major U.S. oil company currently operating in Venezuela under a special license, expressed a more measured willingness to expand activity, with company leadership indicating plans to significantly increase production levels under existing structures.

Other executives, including ConocoPhillips leaders, emphasized the need for broader restructuring of Venezuela’s state-owned oil system and debt issues before committing significant capital.

Treasury officials have acknowledged the industry’s reluctance. In remarks this week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent noted that major integrated oil companies — with structured boards and shareholder expectations — have not shown strong interest in committing to the Venezuelan opportunity, contrasting them with smaller independent producers that have expressed more enthusiasm for high-risk ventures.

The Trump administration, while continuing to promote the Venezuela strategy as a long-term opportunity for U.S. energy leadership, has made clear that it will not provide direct government subsidies for investment, demanding that capital come from private markets and corporations themselves.

As discussions unfold, the debate highlights the complex balance between geopolitical strategy, commercial risk, and the economics of heavy crude production — and suggests that any significant re-engagement of U.S. oil firms in Venezuela will depend on meaningful changes to the business environment and broader political stability in the country.

News archive: Venezuela

If you would like to discover more about KeyFacts Energy, contact us today and we can arrange a 15-minute online meeting to review our database of over 2,600 continually updated 'country-specific' oil and gas and renewable energy profiles from a selection of 144 countries. Find out how you can instantly identify companies with operational activity in your chosen country, 'fine-tune' your news or company selection based on industry category, energy type or regional location and additionally benefit from one to one contact with us to ensure maximum online and social media exposure for your company.