Trump admin launches new bid to pressure US oil companies on Venezuela
Source: By BEN LEFEBVRE, E&E News • Posted: Tuesday, January 6, 2026
The president’s Energy and Interior secretaries are joining the effort to cajole the petroleum businesses to invest in the country’s shattered oil fields
A man wipes his tears while holding flags of Venezuela and the United States next to the statue of Simon Bolivar in Bolívar Square on Saturday in Bogotá, Colombia.Andres Rot/Getty Images
President Donald Trump’s Cabinet officials are scheduling their first formal calls with oil company CEOs to press them to revive Venezuela’s flagging oil production, four people familiar with the conversations told POLITICO.
Calls that Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum are planning with chief executives represent some of the first official outreach that the administration has made to the U.S. companies after months of informal discussions with people in the sector, these people said — days after President Donald Trump told reporters that “our very large United States oil companies” will “spend billions of dollars” in Venezuela.
Industry officials are also discussing what types of incentives would be needed to get them to return to the country, according to two industry officials familiar with the plans who were granted anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. Those could include having the U.S. government signing contracts guaranteeing payment and security or forming public-private joint ventures.
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