Trump is meeting with oil sector executives to seek investments in Venezuela

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is meeting with oil executives at the White House on Friday in hopes of securing $100 billion in investments to revive Venezuela’s ability to fully tap its vast oil reserves — a plan that depends on their comfort in making commitments in a country plagued by instability, inflation and uncertainty.

Since the US military raid to capture former Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro on Saturday, Trump has quickly focused on portraying the move as a new economic opportunity for the US, seizing three tankers carrying Venezuelan oil, saying the US is taking over sales of 30 million to 50 million barrels of previously sanctioned Venezuelan oil and will control sales worldwide indefinitely.

Read more: The United States intercepts the fifth sanctioned tanker while exercising control over the distribution of Venezuelan oil

It’s also part of a broader campaign by Trump to keep gasoline prices low. At a time when many Americans are concerned about affordability, the incursion into Venezuela conflates Trump’s assertive use of presidential powers with a visual spectacle aimed at convincing Americans that he can lower energy prices.

The meeting, scheduled for 2:30 p.m. EST, will be held behind closed doors, according to the president’s daily schedule. “Big Oil will invest at least $100 billion, and I will meet with all of them today at the White House,” Trump said Friday in a pre-dawn social media post.

Read more: Why does Venezuela’s oil matter to the United States?

Trump is scheduled to meet with executives from 17 oil companies, according to the White House. Among the companies attending are Chevron, which still operates in Venezuela, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips, which had oil projects in the country lost as part of the 2007 nationalization of private companies under Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chavez.

The President meets with a wide range of local and international companies whose interests range from construction to commodity markets. Other companies scheduled to attend the meeting include Halliburton, Valero, Marathon, Shell, Singapore-based Trafigura, Italy-based Eni, and Spain-based Repsol.

Read more: Venezuelans suffer from a collapsing economy while Trump promises economic revival

Major US oil companies have so far largely refrained from confirming investments in Venezuela, where contracts and guarantees must be in place. Trump has suggested on social media that America will help support any investments.

Oil production in Venezuela fell to less than one million barrels per day. Part of Trump’s challenge to change that is to convince oil companies that his administration has a stable relationship with Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, as well as providing protections for companies entering the market.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum are scheduled to attend the meeting of oil company executives, according to the White House.