The Daily Populous Wednesday January 7th, 2026 night edition
Authored by nbcnews.com and submitted by ComplexWrangler1346

President Donald Trump said he believes the U.S. oil industry could get expanded operations in Venezuela "up and running" in fewer than 18 months.

"I think we can do it in less time than that, but it’ll be a lot of money," Trump told NBC News in an interview Monday.

"A tremendous amount of money will have to be spent, and the oil companies will spend it, and then they’ll get reimbursed by us or through revenue," he said.

Whether the U.S. government ultimately agrees to reimburse the oil industry's costs in Venezuela, or alternatively, decides that future revenue is sufficient repayment, will likely be a key factor for the oil companies as they consider their options.

Trump declined to say how much money he believes it would cost companies to repair and upgrade Venezuela's aging oil infrastructure.

"It’ll be a very substantial amount of money will be spent" by the oil companies, Trump said. "But they’ll do very well."

"And the country will do well," he added.

Despite Trump's optimism, oil companies have appeared skeptical of quickly entering, expanding or investing in Venezuela. A history of state asset seizures, the ongoing U.S. sanctions and the latest political instability all feed into this caution.

Trump said he believed that tapping Venezuela's oil reserves is "going to reduce oil prices."

Gas prices are already at multiyear lows. The average retail gas price on Monday was $2.81, according to AAA. That's the lowest since March 2021.

"Having a Venezuela that’s an oil producer is good for the United States because it keeps the price of oil down," Trump also added.

While lower oil prices could make gas cheaper at the pump, it would likely also mean lower revenues for the same big oil companies that Trump is counting on to bankroll the rebuilding of Venezuela’s oil industry to the tune of billions of dollars in foreign investment.

Asked if the administration had briefed any oil companies ahead of Saturday's military operation to capture deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, Trump said, "No. But we’ve been talking to the concept of, 'what if we did it?'"

"The oil companies were absolutely aware that we were thinking about doing something," Trump said. "But we didn’t tell them we were going to do it."

Trump told NBC News it was "too soon" to say whether he had personally spoken to top executives at America’s three largest oil producers, Exxon Mobil, Chevron and ConocoPhillips.

"I speak to everybody," he said.

ConocoPhillips declined to comment Monday on Trump's plans for Venezuela’s oil reserves. Chevron told NBC News it does not comment "on commercial matters or speculate on future investments." Exxon did not immediately respond to questions.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright plans to meet with executives from Exxon and ConocoPhillips this week about Venezuela’s oil industry, Bloomberg News reported Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Wright will be a point person for the Trump administration's broader campaign to rebuild Venezuela's oil infrastructure, a White House official said Monday.

The Trump administration has repeatedly claimed that the U.S. oil industry is eager to return to Venezuela, nearly two decades after the country last nationalized billions of dollars' worth of oil company assets.

"They want to go in so badly," Trump told reporters Sunday evening.

Despite Venezuela's massive reserves of crude oil, large U.S. oil firms have a good reason to pause before committing to expand operations in Venezuela.

In the 1970s, the Venezuelan government nationalized energy assets there, including those owned by Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips. In the years since, the companies have tried unsuccessfully to recover billions of dollars.

In 2006 and 2007, the Venezuelan government nationalized even more assets. Then-President Hugo Chávez allowed foreign oil firms to remain, but on less favorable terms, leading to the full departure of Exxon and Conoco.

Chevron, however accepted the terms and remains to this day, thanks in large part to a limited waiver exempting it from U.S. sanctions on Venezuelan oil.

Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods recently expressed caution about re-entering Venezuela.

"We’ve been expropriated from Venezuela two different times," he told Bloomberg News in November, replying to a question about whether Exxon would be interested in Venezuela's oil or gas. "We’d have to see what the economics look like."

jinkinater on January 6th, 2026 at 17:11 UTC »

Why do I even bother paying taxes anymore? It’s not like it goes to anything that benefits the normal citizen anymore

SpaceCampDropOut on January 6th, 2026 at 17:06 UTC »

Welcome to the blade runner corporate hellscape that earth is about to be.

bob_apathy on January 6th, 2026 at 16:50 UTC »

The American taxpayers expected to pay for billion dollar corporations to rebuild infrastructure in another country so they can reap even more profits with zero benefit to the American taxpayers seems like something not even the MAGA cult can defend.

I’m kidding, of course they’ll defend it because you don’t ever question the dear leader!