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Donald Trump wants US oil companies to go into Venezuela, fix the oil infrastructure and boost production, but it’s unlikely to be straightforward.
The stakes are high – the US President has suggested oil will play a key role in financing his plans to “run” Venezuela until there has been a full transition following his forces’ capture of former leader Nicolas Maduro.
Mr Trump has said “it won’t cost us anything because the money coming out of the ground is very substantial”. The US, he added, would “get reimbursed for everything that we spend”.
But he is depending on private American companies to make the plan work.
“We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country,” Mr Trump told a press conference on Saturday following Maduro’s capture.
So, who are the firms he is depending on?
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There is currently only one US multinational oil company in Venezuela – Chevron. Another two, Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips, left after Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chavez, nationalised the oil industry, rendering them superfluous.
Today there appears to be plenty of potential for increasing production – while Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves, it accounts for just 1% of global supply.
As Chevron has already been exporting oil from Venezuela, it could be best placed to benefit from production expansion.
But the company is not prepared to talk about the potential opportunity from Maduro’s overthrow, telling Sky News it did not comment on commercial matters or speculate on future investments.
“Chevron remains focused on the safety and wellbeing of our employees, as well as the integrity of our assets. We…
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