ExxonMobil’s chief executive has delivered a blunt rebuke to President Donald Trump’s efforts to entice U.S. oil companies back into Venezuela, declaring that the country remains effectively off-limits for serious investment. Speaking directly to Trump during a televised White House meeting with top energy executives, ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods said Venezuela’s current legal and commercial environment makes it “uninvestable.”
Woods’ remarks stood out sharply amid an event designed to showcase enthusiasm for tapping Venezuela’s massive oil reserves, the largest in the world. While Trump has urged U.S. companies to commit as much as $100 billion to revive the country’s oil production in order to boost supply and lower global prices, Exxon’s chief made clear that such ambitions clash with industry realities.
According to Woods, Venezuela would need sweeping changes before major capital could flow in. He pointed to the absence of durable investment protections, a fragile legal system, and restrictive hydrocarbon laws that leave foreign companies exposed. Without fundamental reform, he said, large-scale investment would be irresponsible.
ExxonMobil’s caution is rooted in experience. Woods reminded the audience that the company’s assets in Venezuela were seized twice after Exxon first entered the country in the 1940s. Those expropriations, part of a broader wave of nationalizations under previous Venezuelan governments, have left a deep scar across the international energy industry and continue to shape boardroom calculations today.
Trump, for his part, has sought to downplay those risks. He has argued that Venezuela’s political transition opens the door for American firms and suggested the U.S. government could provide security guarantees or legal backstops to protect investors. “You’ll have total safety,” the president told executives, signaling Washington’s willingness to play a more direct role in underwriting risk.
Other executives at the meeting struck a more receptive tone, particularly companies already operating in Venezuela or oilfield service firms that stand to benefit from near-term activity. Some suggested limited capital could begin flowing relatively quickly, even as they acknowledged the country’s instability and long history of broken contracts.
The mixed reactions highlighted the dilemma facing the oil industry. Venezuela’s reserves are enormous, but its institutional framework remains weak after years of mismanagement, sanctions, and political turmoil. For companies like ExxonMobil, which prioritize long-term stability and shareholder protection, the promise of oil alone is not enough.
Woods’ public skepticism underscored a wider reality confronting Trump’s strategy: reviving Venezuela’s oil sector will require more than presidential encouragement. Without credible legal reforms and lasting guarantees against expropriation, many of the world’s largest energy companies appear unwilling to risk returning to a country that once burned them badly—and could do so again.
