Donald Trump has said he might block ExxonMobil from investing in Venezuela after the oil company\u2019s chief executive called the country \u201cuninvestable\u201d during a White House meeting last week.<\/p>\n
Darren Woods told the US president that Venezuela would need to change its laws before it could be an attractive investment opportunity, during the high-profile meeting<\/a> on Friday with at least 17 other oil executives.<\/p>\n Trump had urged the group to spend $100bn to revitalise Venezuela\u2019s oil industry<\/a> in a meeting less than a week after US forces captured and removed Venezuelan president Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/a> from power in a brazen overnight raid.<\/p>\n Woods\u2019 sceptical remarks quickly emerged as the dominant headline, undercutting the White House\u2019s hopes of building momentum from its engagement with the world\u2019s most prominent oil executives.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t like Exxon\u2019s response,\u201d Trump told reporters on Air Force One on his way back to Washington on Sunday. \u201cI\u2019ll probably be inclined to keep Exxon out. I didn\u2019t like their response. They\u2019re playing too cute.\u201d<\/p>\n Exxon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n Exxon, ConocoPhillips and Chevron \u2013 the three largest US oil producers \u2013 were for decades the most prominent partners of Venezuela\u2019s state oil company PDVSA.<\/p>\n The government of late president Hugo Ch\u00e1vez nationalised 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.<\/p>\n Venezuela now owes over $13bn collectively to ConocoPhillips and Exxon for the expropriations, according to court rulings.<\/p>\n Woods told Trump on Friday: \u201cWe\u2019ve 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\u2019ve historically seen here.\u201d<\/p>\n