Exxon signals willingness to assess Venezuelan oil despite Trump rebuke

Exxon Mobil said it remains willing to send a technical assessment team to Venezuela to evaluate oil fields and infrastructure, but any visit or re-entry would be conditional on an invitation, acceptable security and legal protections. The company's position emerged in the wake of a public rebuke from President Donald Trump, who said aboard Air Force One that "I didn’t like Exxon’s response. You know we have so many that want it. I’d probably be inclined to keep Exxon out," and added that "They’re playing too cute."

Exxon’s stance underscores the tension between commercial opportunity and political risk in Venezuela’s energy sector. At a White House meeting last week, Exxon Mobil chief executive Darren Woods described the country as "uninvestable" without significant legal and commercial reforms, and said international oil companies would require durable protections to avoid a repeat of past expropriations. Woods framed the industry’s interest with a broader market view, calling it a "depletion business for a product that is in great demand and will be in demand for many, many, many decades to come."

Venezuela’s oil sector offers scale: the country sits atop some of the world’s largest crude reserves, but two decades of underinvestment and nationalization between 2004 and 2007 left production capacity deeply impaired. Foreign partners such as Exxon, ConocoPhillips and Chevron were central to production before nationalization; ConocoPhillips and Exxon later pursued arbitration and are collectively owed more than $13 billion from past disputes. That unresolved litigation is among the legal encumbrances any new agreements would need to navigate.

Exxon said its technical team would assess the condition of wells, pipelines and processing facilities — a task that involves not only on-the-ground inspection but fast-moving commercial judgments about what it would take to restore output. Industry executives and technical consultants say rehabilitating Venezuela’s heavy, high-sulfur crude will demand sustained capital, upgraded refining capacity, reliable logistics and transparent pricing mechanisms to attract market-based partners. Exxon has signaled it could contribute expertise across production, refining and trading if the Venezuelan state implemented reforms and offered investment protections.

Markets reacted to the developments. Exxon shares slipped about 1.1% in premarket trade after the president’s comments and the company’s public position became known, reflecting investor caution about regulatory and political headwinds. The prospect of U.S. firms re-engaging with Venezuela carries broader implications for global crude flows: a measured restoration of Venezuelan output could alleviate some supply tightness for heavy crude grades and influence refining margins for sour crude, but any meaningful change would likely unfold only over several years and require sustained capital inflows — analysts estimate tens of billions would be needed to restore production materially.

Policy tensions are immediate. President Trump has pressed U.S. oil companies to invest heavily in Venezuela — urging at least $100 billion to revive production — yet his suggestion to block Exxon complicates a calibrated government approach to private investment in a geopolitically sensitive market. For Exxon and peers, the calculus will hinge on whether Caracas can deliver credible legal guarantees, transparent commercial terms and secure operating conditions. Absent those, the technical assessment may remain a preliminary exercise rather than a pathway back to large-scale operations.

The outcome will test how market incentives, legal safeguards and U.S. foreign policy intersect in a country where energy assets are economically attractive but politically fraught.