"American companies will have the opportunity to rebuild Venezuela's rotting energy ‌infrastructure and eventually increase oil ‌production to levels never, ever seen before," Trump said at the opening of the meeting. "We're going to be making the decision as to which ‌oil companies are going to go in," the Republican president said. He praised an agreement with Venezuela's interim leaders to provide 50 million barrels of crude oil to the US, where numerous refineries are specially equipped to refine it. This could reduce financial risks for companies that decide to invest there.Trump added the ongoing discussions with oil companies are aimed at securing commitments. "We have to get them to invest and then we have to get their money back as quickly as we can," Trump said.

Source: Economic Times January 10, 2026 14:08 UTC