Oil Companies Aren't Sold on Venezuela

Ever since The US captured Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, President Trump has made one of his top priorities clear, getting control of Venezuela's vast oil reserves. But to do that, Trump is gonna need the help of US oil companies. On Friday last week, he called a group of oil executives to the White House for a televised meeting. Our colleague Andrew Restuccia was watching. Ladies and gentlemen, the president of The United States. You have Trump and his top advisers, including secretary of state Marco Rubio and energy secretary Chris Wright, sitting at a series of tables in the East Room. And then around them at at at table sort of formed and almost like a horseshoe are the most powerful and influential US oil executives. Today, I'm delighted to welcome almost two dozen of the biggest and most respected oil and gas executives in the world. All sort of there waiting to have a discussion about the future of Venezuela. And what does Trump say to them? He sends a message that he wants them to spend big and move quickly to invest in Venezuela. Our giant oil companies will be spending at least $100,000,000,000 of their money, not the government's money. They don't need government money. But there's a bit of a hurdle to Trump's big Venezuelan oil ambitions. Those US oil companies aren't exactly thrilled about the idea of making that investment. There's this pretty overriding sense in The US oil industry that Venezuela is more trouble than it's worth. It will be a years long, if not decades long process. It'll face enormous hurdles, and there's huge question marks hanging over the entire thing. Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business, and power. I'm Ryan Knudson. It's Wednesday, January 14. Coming up on the show, Trump's plan for Venezuela's oil. AI is incredible. It can teach you how to fry an egg and even write a poem, pirate style. Yar. But it knows nothing about your work. Slackbot is different. It doesn't just know the facts. It knows your schedule. It can turn a brainstorm into a brief, and it doesn't need to be taught. Because Slackbot isn't just another AI. It's AI that knows your work as well as you do. Visit slack.com forward slash meet slackbot to learn more. President Trump has had several objectives in Venezuela. He wanted to take out Maduro, a dictator who allegedly fueled drug trafficking and cozied up to Russia and China. Maduro has denied allegations of drug trafficking. He also wants to exert more control over countries in the Western Hemisphere. And then there's all that oil. We're gonna have, presence in Venezuela as it pertains to oil because we have to have He has said that The US would be in control of the country indefinitely, and he's made clear that he intends to control the production and flow of oil out of Venezuela. But, no, we're gonna be taking out a tremendous amount …