Trump's Venezuela Oil Plan Faces Doubts Over Exxon, ConocoPhillips Output
· World · Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal
President Donald Trump has pitched a deal giving the US a stake in 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan oil as a win for gasoline prices and the country's crude reserves, but those benefits are far from guaranteed within his term. Frustrated by the slow pace at which ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips have ramped up output in Venezuela, Trump is now creating a new US-controlled company to lure producers into developing 17 fields covered by the agreement. People familiar with the matter said major oil companies have been reluctant to invest in Venezuelan production.
Why it matters
If the plan falters, Trump cannot deliver on his promise of lower US gasoline prices or faster refill of strategic crude reserves, while Venezuela's troubled oil sector continues to deter the Western majors needed to revive output. The arrangement also reshapes how Washington wields its sanctions toolkit, using direct equity control rather than enforcement to court producers back into a sanctioned jurisdiction.
Read the original report — Bloomberg
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