XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, talk.politics.misc   
   From: super70s@super70s.invalid   
      
   On 2026-01-11 07:26:54 +0000, Gronk said:   
      
   > https://fortune.com/2026/01/09/trump-oil-venezuela-100-billion   
   exxon-uninvestable/   
   >   
   >   
   > But the CEOs of ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, and   
   > more quickly put a damper on the message, saying   
   > it will take considerable time to enact necessary   
   > legal reforms and security measures within the   
   > country before they can make any long-term   
   > commitments to reenter Venezuela for decades to   
   > come.   
   >   
   > "Today, it’s uninvestable," Exxon Chairman and CEO   
   > Darren Woods said of Venezuela. "Significant   
   > changes have to be made to those commercial frameworks,   
   > the legal system. There has to be durable investment   
   > protections."   
      
   "You dare defy the All Powerful Oz?"   
      
   Trump says he might keep Exxon out of Venezuela after CEO called it   
   'uninvestable'   
   By Jarrett Renshaw   
   Reuters   
   Sun, January 11, 2026 at 7:52 PM CST   
      
   Jan 11 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he   
   might block Exxon Mobil from investing in Venezuela after the oil   
   major's CEO called the country "uninvestable" during a White House   
   meeting last week.   
      
   Exxon CEO Darren Woods told Trump that Venezuela would need to change   
   its laws before it could be an attractive investment opportunity,   
   during the high-profile meeting on Friday with at least 17 other oil   
   executives.   
      
   Trump had urged the group to spend $100 billion to revitalize   
   Venezuela's oil industry in a meeting less than a week after U.S.   
   forces captured and removed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from   
   power in a brazen overnight raid.   
      
   Woods' skeptical remarks quickly emerged as the dominant headline,   
   undercutting the White House s hopes of building momentum from its   
   engagement with the world s most prominent oil executives.   
      
   "I didn't like Exxon's response," Trump told reporters on Air Force One   
   on his way back to Washington on Sunday. "I'll probably be inclined to   
   keep Exxon out. I didn't like their response. They're playing too cute."   
      
   Exxon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.   
      
   Exxon, ConocoPhillips and Chevron, the three largest U.S. oil   
   producers, were for decades the most prominent partners of Venezuela's   
   state oil company PDVSA.   
      
   The government of late President Hugo Chavez nationalized the industry   
   between 2004 and 2007, and while Chevron negotiated deals to partner   
   with PDVSA, ConocoPhillips and Exxon left the country and filed for   
   prominent arbitration cases shortly after.   
      
   Venezuela now owes over $13 billion collectively to ConocoPhillips and   
   Exxon for the expropriations, according to court rulings.   
      
   "We've had our assets seized there twice, and so you can imagine to   
   re-enter a third time would require some pretty significant changes   
   from what we've historically seen here," Woods told Trump on Friday.   
      
   Woods said that Exxon needed durable investment protections introduced   
   and the country's hydrocarbons law also needed to be reformed.   
      
   "If we look at the legal and commercial constructs and frameworks in   
   place today in Venezuela today, it's uninvestable," he said.   
      
   ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan Lance told Trump that his company was the   
   largest non-sovereign credit holder in Venezuela, and called for a   
   restructuring of the debt and the country's entire energy system,   
   including PDVSA.   
      
   Trump said ConocoPhillips would get a lot of its money back, but the   
   U.S. would start with a clean slate. "We're not going to look at what   
   people lost in the past because that was their fault," he said.   
      
   Trump said on Friday that his administration would decide which firms   
   would be allowed to operate in the South American country.   
      
   "You're dealing with us directly. You're not dealing with Venezuela at   
   all. We don't want you to deal with Venezuela," he said.   
      
   On Saturday, Trump signed an executive order to block courts or   
   creditors from seizing revenue tied to the sale of Venezuelan oil held   
   in U.S. Treasury accounts.   
      
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