US oil firms juggle Venezuela opportunity, investor concern ahead of White House summit

By Sheila Dang and Jarrett Renshaw

Jan 9 (Reuters) - U.S. oil executives being summoned to the White House on Friday to discuss potential investment plans in Venezuela will be carefully weighing the country's business potential and enthusiasm from President Donald Trump with a more cautious sentiment being expressed by some of their investors.

Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, speaking at a Goldman ​Sachs energy conference in Miami this week, repeated a claim from Trump that U.S. oil firms were prepared to spend billions of dollars to rebuild the South American country's oil economy ‌after U.S. forces removed Nicolás Maduro from power on Saturday.

Some energy investors were skeptical, however, and questioned the cost of any such spending in Venezuela, which holds the world's largest estimated crude reserves. They also had ongoing concerns about the country's political stability and whether they ‌could trust the interim government in Caracas being run by Delcy Rodriguez.

"Investors will want to see long-lasting stability and good fiscal terms to protect against the risk of asset nationalization, which we’ve seen from Venezuela in the past," said David Byrns, portfolio manager and senior investment analyst at American Century Investments, which is a major Chevron and Exxon Mobil shareholder.

Multiple attendees of private meetings held by Chevron and ConocoPhillips at the Miami conference told Reuters that executives from those companies offered few insights into Venezuela, but made one thing clear: they did not intend to make rash decisions.

Chevron and Conoco did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

On Friday, Trump is expected to urge ⁠oil executives to invest and help boost Venezuela’s crude production during a meeting ‌attended by Wright, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and 17 major firms. The companies represented will include ConocoPhillips, Exxon, Chevron, along with Spain's Repsol and trading firms Vitol and Trafigura, according to sources familiar with the matter.

"The American people, energy companies, and the Venezuelan people will all greatly benefit from these new, ‍unprecedented investments in Venezuela’s oil infrastructure thanks to President Trump,” said White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers.

Chevron already operates in the country, but Exxon and Conoco departed nearly 20 years ago after their assets were nationalized and are still owed billions of dollars.

"The tension is between the compelling geological resource and the obvious business opportunity, and the considerable above-ground risk, uncertainty and unpaid claims," said Geoffrey Pyatt, former Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources in the Biden administration.