Trump says US oil companies will invest $100B in Venezuela’s energy sector
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President Trump on Friday said major US oil companies will invest $100 billion to rebuild Venezuela’s energy sector after the successful impeachment of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.
Speaking in the East Room of the White House during a meeting with nearly two dozen top oil and gas executives, Trump said U.S. energy companies will rebuild Venezuela’s “decaying” oil infrastructure and boost record production.
“American companies will have the opportunity to rebuild Venezuela’s decaying energy infrastructure and ultimately increase oil production to unprecedented levels,” Trump said. “If you put Venezuela and the United States together, we have 55% of the world’s oil.”
BEHIND THE SCENES OF WHO THEY SAW AT TRUMP’S BIG OIL MEETING AFTER MADURO’S ACTION
President Donald Trump during a meeting with US oil company executives in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, Jan 9, 2026. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images/Getty Images)
Trump said his administration will decide which companies are allowed to operate in Venezuela, according to Reuters.
“Our major oil companies will use at least $100 billion of their own money, not government money … to rebuild the energy and infrastructure needed,” Trump said. “Venezuela has also agreed that the United States will immediately begin refining and selling up to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan crude oil, indefinitely.”
The president said the effort would directly benefit American consumers, noting that gasoline prices are already low across the country, with some drivers paying less than $2 per gallon.
ENERGY SECRETARY SAYS CHEVRON’S EXPANSION, US OIL ROLE IN VENEZUELA COULD COME ‘QUICKLY’
American oil company executives during a meeting with President Donald Trump (not pictured) in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, Jan. 9, 2026. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images/Getty Images)
“One of the things that the United States is getting out of this is going to be very low energy prices. We have people getting gas for $1.99, $1.96, $1.95, $1.92,” Trump said. “It used to be $3.5, $4, $5 a gallon. Think about that. $1.99.”
Oil companies at the meeting include Chevron, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, Continental, Halliburton, HKN, Valero, Marathon, Shell, Trafigura, Vitol Americas, Repsol, Eni, Aspect Holdings, Tallgrass, Raisa Energy and Hilcorp.
Trump on Tuesday said in a social media post that Venezuela’s oil will be transferred to the US immediately, he said, “The interim authorities in Venezuela will transfer between 30 and 50 MILLION Barrels of High Quality, Sanctioned Oil, to the United States of America.
TRUMP WILL MEET VENEZUELA OIL OFFICIALS ON FRIDAY
Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife are being held in New York City, where they will stand trial on multiple charges. (Matias Delacroix/Getty Images/Getty)
“This Oil will be sold at its Market Value, and that money will be controlled by me, as the President of the United States of America, to ensure that it is used for the benefit of the people of Venezuela and the United States! I have asked the Secretary of Energy Chris Wright to implement this plan, immediately. It will be taken by cargo ships, and brought directly to the ports of the United States.”
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Chevron is the only US oil company operating in Venezuela, while ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil operated in the country before the state nationalized their assets.
FOX Business’ Emma Colton and Eric Revell contributed to this report.
