Leaders of major American oil companies expressed caution regarding U.S. President Donald Trump's call to invest at least $100 billion in the recovery of Venezuela. The head of ExxonMobil stated that the country is currently unfit for investment.
"If we look at the legal and commercial frameworks that exist today in Venezuela, it is currently unfit for investment," said Darren Woods during a meeting with Trump at the White House, where the future of Venezuela's oil and gas industry was discussed.
Significant changes need to be made to these commercial frameworks, the legal system, to ensure long-term investment protection, and to amend the country's hydrocarbon legislation, emphasized the head of ExxonMobil.
Woods added that the company's assets in Venezuela have been confiscated twice since Exxon first entered the country in the 1940s.
At the same time, Woods stated that Exxon is ready to "send a team on-site" if invited by the Venezuelan government and provided with appropriate security guarantees.
Trump gathered leaders from nearly 20 oil and gas companies the day before and expressed confidence that they would be able to reach agreements to restore oil production in Venezuela, Bloomberg reports.
