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  • 17 hours ago
Following the apprehension of Nicolas Maduro by U.S. forces, former President Donald Trump announced a strategic partnership for American companies to rebuild Venezuela's oil industry. At a White House press conference with executives from firms like Chevron, ExxonMobil, and ConocoPhillips, Trump outlined a plan for at least $100 billion in private investment to restore the nation's dilapidated energy infrastructure. The proposal includes providing security guarantees to the corporations, which are expected to recoup their investments quickly before profits are divided among the companies, the U.S., and Venezuela. This initiative aims to lower U.S. energy prices, integrate the two economies, and serve as a national security measure to counter Russian and Chinese influence in the Western Hemisphere. While some executives expressed readiness to invest pending stable frameworks, others remained non-committal.
Transcript
00:00:00So we're going to discuss how these great American companies can help rapidly rebuild Venezuela's dilapidated oil industry and bring millions of barrels of oil production to benefit the United States, the people of Venezuela and the entire world.
00:00:17And yesterday, the number is 30 million barrels. I can't even, is that a correct number? 30 million barrels. You hear that, Peter?
00:00:29Of oil was given to us by Venezuela. That's a lot of oil. It's about $4 billion worth. And it's on our way to it's on its way to the United States right now. And we want to thank Venezuela for that. And we're working very well with them, obviously, or they wouldn't have been so generous. But they respect us again. They didn't respect us at all before. So that's money that goes to the United States. Some will go to Venezuela and some will go to the oil.
00:00:59oil companies. But not that, because that's already been extracted. So you're not getting any of that. But when you start extracting, you'll get. But it's tremendous reserves among the biggest in the world. Some people say it is the biggest in the world.
00:01:15And we're going to be working with Venezuela. We're going to be making the decision as to which oil companies are going to go in that we're going to allow to go in. We're going to cut a deal with the companies. We'll probably do that today or very shortly thereafter with Chris and Doug.
00:01:31And we're dealing with the country. So we're we're empowered to make that deal. And you have total safety, total security. One of the reasons you couldn't go in is you had no guarantees. You had no security. But now you have total security. It's a whole different Venezuela. And Venezuela is going to be very successful.
00:01:51And the people of the United States are going to be big beneficiaries because we're going to be extracting, you know, numbers of in terms of oil, like, you know, few people have ever seen, actually.
00:02:03So you're dealing with us directly. You're not dealing with Venezuela at all. We don't want you to deal with Venezuela. Let me thank Vice President J.D. Vance, who's doing a fantastic job.
00:02:15Secretary of State Marco Rubio, likewise, a fantastic job. I have good people. I like them better than my first group. But we had a great, despite that, we had a great first term. We had some great people there, too, by the way.
00:02:31But we had a great, a great first term. We had the greatest economy in the history of our country in the first term. But this is blowing it away. And you haven't seen anything yet. Everyone's been shocked by the numbers 5.4 percent GDP.
00:02:46And that's despite the fact that we were badly hurt by the Democrat shutdown, of which they'd like to see if they could shut it down again. Secretary of the Interior, Doug Burgum, who's fantastic.
00:02:59Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, recommended by Doug as being the greatest oil man anywhere in the world. Because I wanted Doug for that job, energy. And Doug said, no, sir, there's a man named Chris Wright. I said, who the hell is Chris Wright?
00:03:14He said he's the most talented oil man anywhere in the world. I doubt you can get him. Because typically, oil men make a lot of money. And women. They make a lot of money. But Chris came. You took one of the greatest salary cuts probably in history, Chris. But he's a fantastic person. Loves our country. And many other important members of this team. And I want to thank them for their efforts. As you know, last week, the United States Armed Forces performed one of the most spectacular military operations.
00:03:42In American history.
00:03:46Apprehending the outlawed dictator Nicolas Maduro for his crimes against the United States. Crimes for which he has now been indicted as in federal court awaiting trial. And he killed many people. Millions of people, actually. And allowed jails, prisons, mental institutions, insane asylums, drug dealers,
00:04:11drug dealers, drug addicts to pour into our country totally unchecked because of sleepy Joe Biden's policy of open borders. The stupidest thing I've ever seen. We're getting them all out.
00:04:21The departure of Maduro makes possible an incredible future for both nations, Venezuela and the United States, in which we will more closely integrate the economies of two major energy powers in the Western Hemisphere. Energy coming out of Venezuela was very small. One of the things the United States gets out of this will be even lower energy prices. We have people now getting gasoline for $1.9.
00:04:23$1.99. $1.96.
00:04:29How much $1?
00:04:33How much?
00:04:48getting gasoline for $1.99, $1.96, $1.95, $1.92 yesterday, somebody. And it used to be three
00:04:58and a half, four dollars, five dollars a gallon. Think of that, $1.99. Decades ago, the United
00:05:06States built Venezuela's oil industry at tremendous expense with American skill, technology, know-how,
00:05:13and dollars. But those assets were stolen from us. And we had presidents who did nothing
00:05:20about it. This president is much different than your other presidents. They did nothing
00:05:24about it. They stole it. Some of the people in this room were a little bit younger when
00:05:29that happened, but not that much younger. It wasn't that long ago. But they stole our assets
00:05:36like we were babies. And the United States said absolutely nothing about it. So now we're
00:05:41doing everything about it. Now we're doing 500 percent about it. But it's a long time
00:05:48after the act took place. So they stole from us. And it was taken by socialists and communists
00:05:54at the time. And Venezuela was going bad, really bad. And as much oil as they have, they're producing
00:06:01almost nothing, almost nothing, which is just a system. So we're really, if you look at it,
00:06:08we're taking back what was taken from us. They took our oil industry. We built that entire oil
00:06:15industry. Started a long time ago, but they took it and they were very ungracious to this country.
00:06:22But now they're being very nice. American companies will have the opportunity to rebuild Venezuela's
00:06:29rotting energy infrastructure and eventually increase oil production to levels never, ever seen before.
00:06:36When you add Venezuela and the United States together, we have 55 percent of the oil in the world.
00:06:44The United States is number one. We have them drilling.
00:06:47Drill baby, drill was my campaign. And Doug and Chris, I think we're setting records on drilling
00:06:54right now and taking oil without Venezuela. That's how we're getting the oil prices down.
00:07:00And the plan is for them to spend, meaning our giant oil companies will be spending
00:07:07at least $100 billion of their money, not the government's money. They don't need government
00:07:11money. But they need government protection and need government security that when they spend all
00:07:18this money, it's going to be there. So they get their money back and make a very nice return. The plan is for
00:07:24them to spend at least $100 billion to rebuild the capacity and the infrastructure necessary.
00:07:32Venezuela has also agreed that the United States will immediately begin refining and selling up to 50
00:07:38million barrels of Venezuelan crude oil, which will continue indefinitely. We're all set to do it.
00:07:46We have the refining capacity was actually based very much on the Venezuelan oil, which is a heavy
00:07:53oil, very good oil, great oil. It's fantastic for certain things like asphalt roads, the best there
00:08:01is in the world for asphalt roads and other things. All of the companies here today are going to be
00:08:07treasured partners in bringing the nation of Venezuela back to life, restoring its economy and
00:08:13generating great wealth for their companies and for their people and also great wealth for the
00:08:20American people and tremendous wealth for the companies that are going in, the companies that
00:08:26are going in. And if you don't want to go in, just let me know because I got 25 people that aren't here
00:08:33today that are willing to take your place. So I just want to thank these are people that I either know
00:08:40or I know of by reading lots of business magazines and journals and papers. These are the greatest oil
00:08:47people anywhere in the world. Harold Hamm I see is here, Harold. You know, there's a story about Harold
00:08:53Hamm that he could look at a piece of land, put a straw into the land and oil pours out. Is that true
00:09:00about you? Whereas some of you guys have to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to find that oil.
00:09:05So we can't let that story be true. But they say Harold puts a straw into the land and oil comes gushing
00:09:12out. So you're not a big R&D person, are you? Huh? He's he's called he's called instinct for oil.
00:09:19Now he's got other problems, but we won't talk about those problems. But he's been a great supporter of
00:09:25mine for a long time, haven't you, Harold? So congratulations. But we have and I think Harold would
00:09:29agree we have the greatest oil men and women anywhere in the world sitting in this room right now.
00:09:36And we have a lot of people that will be back to see us sometime next week. We're going to have
00:09:40another meeting for another group. But we're going to do this very quickly. We can have this done almost
00:09:46immediately. So I'd like to thank you all for being here. I'd like to invite Vice President Vance to
00:09:53say a few words, followed by Secretaries Rubio, Bergam and Wright. And then we'll have a few words
00:09:59from representatives that are here and to discuss their ideas. A couple of them. We have Chevron,
00:10:06which has been where Chevron. Where are you? Far right. No, I thought you'd have a better location.
00:10:13You were the only one that was there for for all that. I used to call you and say,
00:10:18what the hell is going on with Venezuela? He stuck it out. I don't know if you made money or not,
00:10:23but you stuck it out. They've got to give you a lot of credit for that. Mark Nelson,
00:10:27thank you very much. Exxon CEO, Darren Woods. Darren, thank you very much. How's Exxon doing?
00:10:33Okay. They'll do a lot better now, won't they? Huh? Exxon's been amazing. It's been an amazing
00:10:40company. And ConocoPhillips CEO, Ryan Lance. Thank you very much. So you guys could say something,
00:10:47and then we'll take some questions from the press. And if anybody else would like to speak,
00:10:52we'll have you speak. We have all the time in the world. This is a big subject. This is
00:10:57massive wealth. And more importantly than massive wealth, it leads to lower taxes and a lot of jobs
00:11:04for Americans and for Venezuelans, but for Americans in this case. And I just, again, appreciate you all
00:11:12being here. And I'd like to ask JD to say a few words, please. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President.
00:11:17Thanks to everybody for being here. You know, as a Marine Corps veteran for my entire lifetime,
00:11:22presidents, and let's be honest, they were Democrats and Republicans, would send the American military
00:11:27to far off places. They would get us involved in these endless quagmires. They would lose hundreds
00:11:32or thousands of American lives. And the American people would get nothing out of these misadventures.
00:11:37And now you have an American president who's empowered the American military
00:11:41to stop the flow of drugs into our country and to ensure that we, as opposed to our adversaries,
00:11:47control one of the great energy reserves that exist anywhere in the entire world.
00:11:51And he did it without losing a single American life in the process. It was an amazing operation.
00:11:57It's going to make our country richer. It's going to make our country more powerful.
00:12:01It's going to make our country safer. And it's going to lead to the decline, the further decline
00:12:06of drug overdose deaths in the United States of America. An amazing thing. And I'm happy to be here
00:12:11to talk about how we can make it an even bigger and better operation for the American people. Thank you,
00:12:15sir. Thank you very much. Marco. Thank you, Mr. President. And I think this is a reminder
00:12:20that everything this president does, everything President Trump does, is with the American people
00:12:24in mind. It was not in the national interest or national security of the United States and of our
00:12:29people to have in our own hemisphere a country, not just with vast energy reserves, but controlled by an
00:12:35indicted narco-trafficker who flooded our country with illegal immigration, including drug gang members,
00:12:42flooded our — openly cooperated with drug gangs, and by the way, opened up the — stole the wealth
00:12:46of that country to fund a repressive regime and also benefit adversaries such as Iran. All of that
00:12:52is now changing. It's part of this process. The first phase, of course, is the phase we're in now,
00:12:58which is the stabilization phase. We did not want to see destabilization in the country. We're working
00:13:02very cooperatively with the interim authorities there to provide a market for the sale of the
00:13:07wealth of Venezuela in such a way that benefits the people, both of the United States but also the
00:13:11people of Venezuela. And as a reminder to everyone, the president announced this just two days ago,
00:13:16every penny — everything they buy with the money that they're making from the oil now,
00:13:19Mr. President, will be bought from America, and that includes everything from equipment for the oil
00:13:25industry to food to medicine to everything in between. The second will be a phase of recovery,
00:13:29and then some of these phases will interlap, and that is to have a normal economy again,
00:13:33where the money goes to the benefit of people, not the benefit of our adversaries or the benefit of
00:13:39elements in that country and around the world that are against our interests,
00:13:43at the same time as a process of reconciliation has to happen, internally, among the different
00:13:47sectors of society and politics and the like. And finally, the third phase, which is the most
00:13:51important of the three, is when the country fully transitions into a normal country that we have strong
00:13:56economic and diplomatic and relations with, that is friendly towards the United States,
00:14:01that's not a foothold for our adversaries, that serves our interests, but also the interests of
00:14:05the people. It'll be a country that is wealthy, a country that is prosperous for the people,
00:14:09not for a handful of criminals, but also a country that is supportive of our interests in the region
00:14:15and throughout the world. And we thank you, Mr. President, and the team you've assembled that
00:14:19have made — brought us to this point. A lot of work remains important work, but this is historic.
00:14:23Okay. Thank you very much. Doug?
00:14:26Well, Mr. President, I want to thank you for your leadership, not just as president,
00:14:33but as commander-in-chief. The boldness, the execution, the breathtakingly precise work that
00:14:40you've delivered both in Iran back in June and here has changed the — changed the field for the whole world.
00:14:46And you always ran about the idea of peace and prosperity. And in Venezuela, as you know,
00:14:51this was a playground for every bad actor in the world. We had Russians, Iran, terror groups,
00:14:58all of them profiting from this criminal organization that was pretending to run the country.
00:15:03That makes America safer. You've secured the border, we're stopping the flow of drugs,
00:15:07and now with the normalization of relationships on an economic basis,
00:15:11it's going to mean tremendously for the prosperity of the American people.
00:15:15So I just want to say again, congratulations to you and to the entire leadership team.
00:15:21It's been an amazing historic week on the scale of things that we haven't seen perhaps for 125 years
00:15:27in terms of the U.S. exerting its influence over Latin America in a way that's going to make a change
00:15:33for generations. And on behalf of all the oil executives that are here today, Chris and I want
00:15:38to say thank you to all of you. It's your technology, your innovation that has put America in the place
00:15:44where today we are the most energy-dominant country in the world. And that is — that position is what's
00:15:50allowed us to take the action that we're taking with statecraft, with military action. None of that would
00:15:55happen if we were dependent on everybody else for energy. So you're a big part of the reason that we're
00:16:01able to move the way we are today, and we're grateful that you're here to be — to be part of the solution going forward.
00:16:05Thank you, Doug. And you are doing a fantastic job, and we appreciate it. Everybody appreciates it.
00:16:11They know — they know who's doing well. Chris Wright.
00:16:15Thank you, Mr. President. Yeah, what we've seen in the last week is leadership matters
00:16:22and credibility matters. Venezuelan oil has been sanctioned for many years, and the oil just flew,
00:16:29you know — those sanctions were not enforced. That oil just floated out to — trafficked by bad
00:16:35actors of the world. That resources weren't gone to a central place. The corruption and decline of
00:16:41Venezuela has been a crisis for the people of Venezuela. And as Secretary Rubio said,
00:16:47massive spillover effects in the United States — in crime, in drugs, in kidnappings,
00:16:53and in taking a huge resource base and making it not exploited, not developed. The whole world is a
00:17:00poorer, less opportunity-rich place because of that. When you have materials underground — they've
00:17:06been underground for a million years — that does not make them a resource. That does not make them
00:17:10valuable for your country, your people, or the world. They only become a resource with technology,
00:17:17with capital, with rule of law and a system of governance that encourages the harvesting of
00:17:22those resources to make the better world. And we see here the dramatic contrast between the United States,
00:17:28which may have less oil underground than Venezuela. We have 20 times the production of Venezuela,
00:17:3420 times the impact of human betterment, massively better quality of living here in the United States.
00:17:40That was at risk under the last administration. We've seen a lot of attacks on the energy that makes
00:17:45the world go round. President Trump's election has removed those risks, has embraced reality about how
00:17:51the world is energized. And we are at record production of oil in the United States, record production in
00:17:56natural gas in the United States. We've seen a meaningful decline in gasoline prices, diesel prices,
00:18:02travel prices because of jet fuel. And now President Trump is taking the genius of a different
00:18:08way to try to solve a 25-year festering problem in Venezuela, that all the traditional things have not
00:18:15worked. But ordering both a tremendous military operation to remove the heads of a criminal organization
00:18:23masquerading as a government, and then to use the power of our military, not to fire bullets,
00:18:28but to stop the flow of Venezuelan oil to the world, immediately gave us leverage over the interim
00:18:35authorities in Venezuela, and has allowed us to be in this position today, where the actions of this
00:18:42government can massively improve Venezuela for the better. And the bigger impact is to massively improve
00:18:49the quality of life, affordability, safety, and security of the United States. Very proud to be here.
00:18:57And I'll turn it over to Mark Nelson, who's the vice chairman of Chevron. Chevron has been in Venezuela
00:19:06for over a hundred years continuously. Mike Wirth, the CEO, had a knee replacement recently. He's not here.
00:19:15Mark is a tremendous leader in our industry. And I'll turn it over to him.
00:19:19Thank you, Secretary Wright. Again, I'll send Mike Wirth's regrets. He really wanted to be here,
00:19:25Mr. President. On his behalf, I have three very quick thank yous and an assurance I'd like to provide
00:19:34you all. The first thank you, Mr. President, is to you. It's thank you for convening this gathering.
00:19:40It's thank you for your leadership. And thank you for continuing to keep American energy
00:19:47domination in the forefront. So thank you. Thank you for that.
00:19:50Thank you very much. The second thank you, actually, is to the Cabinet.
00:19:55So Secretary Rubio, Secretary Burgum, Secretary Wright, your ability and commitment to continue to
00:20:02engage with the parties around the table to keep the world working is greatly appreciated. So thank you.
00:20:09Thank you for that. And the final thank you, actually, would go to our Venezuelan employees
00:20:14of Chevron. They have been working tirelessly to operate safely, protect the environment
00:20:21in-country. And their dedication and skill will help us in this next chapter.
00:20:28And finally, I'll close with the assurance. For more than a century, Chevron has been a part of
00:20:34Venezuela's past. We are certainly committed to its present. And we very much look forward,
00:20:41as a proud American company, to help it build a better future. And so, Mr. President, thank you for
00:20:46your leadership. And you really suffered there. You stuck it out. A lot of people left. A lot of big
00:20:52companies left. Some of the people, many of the people sitting at this table left because of the safety
00:20:57risk and other risks. But you really stuck it out. I give you credit for that. Sometimes it was hard.
00:21:04I remember six months ago, I told you to stay. Just stay. Things are going to happen. You'll be very
00:21:09happy. I didn't know they were going to happen this fast or this conclusively. One thing I think
00:21:15everyone has to know is that if we didn't do this, China or Russia would have done it. And if China or Russia
00:21:22were a next-door neighbor, because essentially this is not around the other parts of the world so far
00:21:28away where you fly an airplane for 24 hours before you get there, this is sort of a next-door neighbor,
00:21:35if you think about it. And I told China and I told Russia, we get along with you very well. We like you
00:21:43very much. We don't want you there. You're not going to be there. And if we didn't do this, China would
00:21:48have been there and Russia would have been there. Maybe they both would have been there together,
00:21:51but they're not going to be there now. One thing I will tell them and I will tell you
00:21:56that we are open for business. China can buy all the oil they want from us
00:22:03there or in the United States. Russia can get all the oil they need from us. And they do like oil,
00:22:10even though they produce a lot of it. But China and Russia and everybody else is able to go and
00:22:15we'll be open for business almost immediately. I have a feeling the hundred million dollars will
00:22:21be spent very, very hundred billion will be spent very, very rapidly by these very big,
00:22:26powerful and rich companies. And I think they're going to be able to rebuild the infrastructure.
00:22:31And I hope it's going to be brand new as opposed to rehab, because I know the tremendous difference
00:22:36between the new and the not so new in your industry. The new is much more beautiful, much better in
00:22:43every way and actually much smaller. It's like everything else gets smaller and stronger. It's a
00:22:48combination of smaller, better and stronger. So I hope you're going to build all brand new stuff,
00:22:53rip out the old crap that's been there for so many years and do it the right way. You're going to be
00:22:57there a long time if we make a deal. If we make a deal, you're going to be there a long time.
00:23:01If we don't make a deal, you won't be there at all. It's, you know, sort of interesting. But
00:23:05again, China and Russia would have been there if we didn't do this. And the other thing people ask
00:23:12about the second wave, I don't think it's going to be necessary. We have an armada, a giant armada,
00:23:17like nobody's ever seen in that part of the world. And it's stationed off the coast. And we are
00:23:25getting along so well with the people that are involved and representing Venezuela that I don't think
00:23:31we're going to have any nest. I don't think it's going to be necessary to do the second wave.
00:23:36We were planning on a second wave, but the first wave was so powerful and so good and so strong.
00:23:42And frankly, the people in the country, they really they did the right thing. They were smart.
00:23:48They did the right thing. They didn't want to go through a second wave. But we've got a tremendous
00:23:53number of the most powerful ships in the world right there. I don't think we're going to have to use
00:23:59that. I'm happy to say that. I don't think we're going to have to use that at all. If I could ask
00:24:05Chevron, you did a great job. I want to thank you. And ExxonMobil, if you would say a few words,
00:24:10and then followed by Conoco, great companies, massive companies, great companies. Exxon, please.
00:24:16Sure. Thank you, Mr. President. I appreciate the invitation and the opportunity, frankly,
00:24:20for the entire industry to show up and provide a perspective. Frankly, we've been kind of
00:24:26unresponsive to the press regarding Venezuela. I guess today's the opportunity to address the
00:24:31press directly with respect to a number of questions that have been asked of ExxonMobil.
00:24:35First and foremost, obviously, is the interest that we have in Venezuela. And I think, you know,
00:24:39the way I would position that, I think one of the reasons why we see many of the industry players here
00:24:44is we're in a depletion business for a product that is in great demand and will be in demand for
00:24:48many, many, many decades to come. And as a depletion business, the biggest challenge we have is finding
00:24:53resources. There's an opportunity in Venezuela with all the resources there. We don't have that
00:24:59challenge of finding. We have the challenge of developing those resources. So I think it's on,
00:25:04it's in the best interest of these companies and, frankly, society as a whole for the industry to be
00:25:11interested in understanding what the opportunity here represents. I'll just share a philosophy that
00:25:17ExxonMobil has when we enter countries because we do business all around the world in a number of
00:25:21different regimes. We take a very long-term perspective. The investments that we make
00:25:26span decades and decades. So we do not go into any opportunity with a short-term mindset.
00:25:35There's a value proposition that we have to meet. It has to be a win-win-win proposition. Obviously,
00:25:41it has to be a win for the company and our shareholders and to generate a return for the
00:25:45investments that we make. It has to be a win for the government. The resources are an important
00:25:50source of revenue that helps support the people of the places that we do business. And it has to be
00:25:56a win for the people. We have to be wanted there and to be a good neighbor. And those three things
00:26:01ensure a stable long-term platform for the large investments that we make for the long term.
00:26:08With respect to Venezuela in particular, we have a very long history in Venezuela. In fact,
00:26:13we first got into Venezuela back in the 1940s. We've had our assets seized there twice. And so,
00:26:21you can imagine to reenter a third time would require some pretty significant changes from what we've
00:26:27historically seen here and what is currently the state. If we look at the legal and commercial
00:26:32constructs and frameworks in place today in Venezuela, today it's uninvestable. And so significant
00:26:39changes have to be made to those commercial frameworks, the legal system. There has to be
00:26:44durable investment protections and there has to be a change to the hydrocarbon laws in the country.
00:26:50We're confident that with this administration and President Trump working hand-in-hand with
00:26:55the Venezuelan government, that those changes can be put in place. And with respect to the
00:27:03Venezuelan government, that perspective we don't have the view on. We haven't talked to the
00:27:08Venezuelan government and obviously we have yet to assess the people's perspective with respect to
00:27:14ExxonMobil entering the company, the country. In the short term, there are things that can be done
00:27:21while these longer term issues are being worked. For us, we haven't been in the country for almost 20
00:27:27years. We think it's absolutely critical in the short term that we get a technical team in place to
00:27:33assess the current state of the industry and the assets to understand what would be involved
00:27:37to help the people of Venezuela get production back on the market. With the invitation of the
00:27:43Venezuelan government and with the appropriate security guarantees, we are ready to put a team
00:27:47on the ground there. We also have an integrated set of capabilities from production to refining to
00:27:54trading and I think we can be of assistance to getting the Venezuelan crew to market and realizing
00:28:00market price to help again with the financial situation in Venezuela. So those are my short-term
00:28:06perspective that I have. I'd say maybe close with a thank you, Mr. President, for the work that
00:28:11you've done to secure not only the national security but the energy security of the region.
00:28:15And then thank you, Secretary Rubio, Secretary Wright, Secretary Burgum, for your leadership in this
00:28:20matter. Thank you. How long would it take you, Darren,
00:28:24as Exxon to, if we make a deal, and if we make a deal, how long would it take you to get in there and get
00:28:31started? Well, we, the first step, this technical team, we, as I talked with Secretary Wright earlier this
00:28:37week, we started from the beginning to put the team together so that if and when it was needed we
00:28:43could hit the ground almost immediately so we can we can hit the ground and within the next couple of
00:28:48weeks start the assessment. And then from there we need to understand. That's what we want. We want speed
00:28:53and quality. That's what we want. Thank you, Darren. And Conoco, Ryan.
00:28:57Thank you, Mr. President. I appreciate the opportunity to be here, too. And you've assembled
00:29:01a great team. And our congratulations as well for removing one of the terrible people in the world
00:29:08and bringing them to justice. It was quite amazing. I think you've given hope to the people of Venezuela
00:29:14again, which I think is quite remarkable. And we've been on the other end of that despot regime a long
00:29:20time time. Our assets were appropriated. I had a little bit more hair when that happened.
00:29:26And, you know, I think we're the largest non-sovereign credit holder in Venezuela today.
00:29:34So we're in a bit of a different situation. But I think your big and bold idea to use energy
00:29:40commerce instead of conflict is something that could make a real big difference in Venezuela. And we
00:29:47stand our company certainly stands ready to help in that endeavor. I encourage you to continue to
00:29:54think bigger and even bolder. And we've had some discussions with your energy team about that as
00:30:00well as we think about the other people that need to be in this room and then this discussion are the
00:30:04banks and including probably the Ex-Im Bank as we think about how the debt needs to be restructured
00:30:10in the financing to deliver the billions of dollars that are required to restore their energy
00:30:16infrastructure. And I think as we think that big and bold, we need to be also thinking about
00:30:21even restructuring the entire Venezuelan energy system, including PDVSA. And I think if we can do
00:30:28that and think bold, there's an opportunity to be quick, fast, and restore the quality of what's
00:30:35happened in Venezuela or what's been lost in Venezuela over the course of the last 25 years.
00:30:40So thank you for this opportunity. Well, thank you very much. And you'll get a lot of your money back.
00:30:44We're going to start with an even plate, though. We're not going to look at what people lost in the
00:30:49past because that was their fault. That was a different president. We're going to — you're going to make a lot of
00:30:54money, but we're not going to go back. You left a lot of money behind, I guess, huh? What number?
00:30:59The President Trump's $12 billion. How much? The President Trump's $12 billion.
00:31:02The President Trump's $12 billion. Well, it's a good write-off.
00:31:05The President Trump's $12 billion. It's already been written off.
00:31:08It's been written off. All right. Thank you.
00:31:11You'll make it back one way or the other. You're all going to do very well. I think really very well.
00:31:16Marco just gave me a note. Go back to Chevron. They want to discuss something. Go ahead.
00:31:23I'm going back to Chevron, Marco. Thank you, Marco. Go ahead.
00:31:27Was there a question, Mr. President? Yes. Go ahead, Marco. What was — what are you
00:31:31saying here? Mark, if you can update us on operations in the ground and with the appropriate
00:31:37approvals, what you might be able to achieve in the next 12 to 18 months,
00:31:41give us a little view from the ground. You bet. You bet. So today,
00:31:45Chevron has 3,000 employees in four different joint ventures in Venezuela today. And over the past
00:31:52five to seven years, they've taken production from about 40,000 barrels a day to 240,000 barrels
00:31:57a day, essentially getting those facilities and that equipment up to standards that would be
00:32:02something that people in the room would be more accustomed to. Given the work we've done
00:32:07with Secretary Wright and Secretary Burgum and even Secretary Besant, I think we have a path forward
00:32:14here very shortly to be able to increase our liftings from those joint ventures 100 percent,
00:32:19essentially effective immediately. We are also able to increase our production within our own
00:32:25disciplined investment schemes by about 50 percent just in the next 18 to 24 months. And that's just
00:32:32leveraging what's on the ground. So to Secretary Rubio's comments about phase one, this is taking the
00:32:39momentum of improvements we've already made there locally and building on those and creating more
00:32:44momentum for the people of Venezuela. Do you think you have an advantage
00:32:49being there? You know, you've been there by the skin of your teeth. It's been tough for you to be there.
00:32:53But do you think you have an advantage over the other people in this room by the fact that you are there?
00:32:57Yeah, I think there are. Mr. President, I think there would be days where it didn't feel like an advantage
00:33:01and there are days where it does feel like an advantage. But having people on the ground today that care
00:33:06desperately about the people of Venezuela and know how to operate the assets that are there is a definite
00:33:11advantage today. Would you say the best locations are available or would you say the best locations
00:33:17are already sort of worked, even though they're in very bad shape? The best locations for finding oil,
00:33:24the best locations for oil? There are more opportunities than not, Mr. President. With 300
00:33:31billion barrels of reserves and resources in country, there are lots of opportunities for many
00:33:36companies. Will you be building new or will you be using the old infrastructure that you have?
00:33:41Yeah, today it's a little bit of a mix, but today it's mostly us taking the equipment of today,
00:33:46getting it to the standards that we are accustomed to, to your comments about making it how it should
00:33:50be today. Most of the investments that we've been making are about getting it up to our standards.
00:33:55Well, I think you're going to make an investment, but you're going to get your money back very quickly,
00:33:59and that's part of our thing. We're going to have you get your money back fast, and then you'll
00:34:03give a lot to Venezuela and to the United States after that. Okay? So you'll be you'll be in good
00:34:08shape. Could I ask Harold Hamm to say a few words? He's been a friend of mine for a long time.
00:34:13Very amazing man, actually. Amazing energy person. Well, thank you, Mr. President. It's good to be
00:34:19here with so many dignified people and this effort particularly. And thank you for your effort,
00:34:27for what you've done here, taking this desperate out of that area. And the world dealt with him way too
00:34:34long. Certainly our industry knows that this is a real jewel that can be developed for the for the
00:34:44people, for the people of Venezuela and also benefit the world. And like Secretary Wright said,
00:34:53it has not been done. That's not been done in the past. And and they had a good chance at it.
00:35:01Brought someone in that totally took it down as everybody knows here. And that was Chavez. And we
00:35:09know what happened to him finally. But you know, that ruined the industry in Venezuela. And all of us
00:35:17know how that happened ended very well, very, very wrongly. So anyway, we're glad to see what's
00:35:27happened here and and look forward for the opportunity for a lot of people in this room,
00:35:34but also for America and the country itself. Are you going to be involved in going in? Because,
00:35:40you know, he's in North Dakota and he's in Oklahoma and some incredible places is a little bit different.
00:35:48But there's no doubt about you won't have to worry about the strut too much here. You can just just go
00:35:53at it. Are you going to be one of the participants? Well, certainly, you know, I'm an oil finder.
00:35:59Like you said, you know, Barry Splitzer, you know, told that story. The coach. He's kind of
00:36:06exaggerated a little bit. It doesn't come out that quite that easily usually. But anyway, great story.
00:36:12I love it. But I love Barry. Barry's the one that told me this. Yeah, he's he's a champion,
00:36:18you know, and in a lot of ways. So love that story. Certainly, I excites me as an explorationist.
00:36:27You know, everybody has that in their blood and and, you know, it is a very exciting
00:36:36country and a lot of reserves. And so it's got its challenges and the industry knows how to
00:36:44how to handle that. And like Darren said, you know, you go into your eyes open and
00:36:50and do the best you can with the team you got. So you're going to have something that they never had
00:36:56really here is tremendous security. You're going to be very secure, very safe,
00:37:00physically safe in addition to financially safe. So it's good to see you, Harold. Thank you very much.
00:37:06Does anybody have anything to say before we get to the press?
00:37:09What does Cuba have to do to avoid the same fate as Venezuela? What does Cuba have to do?
00:37:14Well, Cuba is in bad shape. Cuba relied on Venezuela for oil and for money.
00:37:20And nobody really knows what's going to happen with Cuba. They're doing very poorly. They're really
00:37:26third world all the way. And we have a lot of great Cuban Americans.
00:37:30And I would say Marco fits very solidly into that category. And I might ask you to say a few words
00:37:35about we were discussing it before Cuba is a very different. They don't have energy. They don't have oil,
00:37:40but they would live off of the oil from Venezuela. And they what they do have is very strong people
00:37:48and very powerful people militarily. And they would protect the people running Venezuela. And
00:37:55they would take in a lot of money from Venezuela. Now they don't have that. They won't be taking in
00:37:59any money. So Marco, what do you think? Well, I mean, the fundamental problem in Cuba is that it's run by
00:38:04incompetent people that don't know what an economy looks like, much less a functioning one.
00:38:08They've made a choice. And that is they would rather have political control over the people
00:38:12than they would have an economy that functions. And they've gotten away with it for 60-something
00:38:16years because they've had donors, the Soviet Union, and now most recently Venezuela. But that's now gone.
00:38:21So the people in control in Cuba have a choice to make. They can either have a real country with a
00:38:25real economy where their people can prosper, or they can continue with their failing dictatorship
00:38:30that's going to lead to systemic and societal collapse. That's a very stark and dramatic choice,
00:38:34and it's one we hope to make the right one. We don't have an interest in a destabilized Cuba,
00:38:38but that would be their fault because they refuse to allow the people of Cuba to have
00:38:42either economic or political freedom, for that matter.
00:38:45And you have a lot of people in this country that want to go back to Cuba and help Cuba.
00:38:51A lot of people have left. You know, they came in penniless. They didn't have anything,
00:38:55and they've become very rich people in our country, and they want to very much go back and help Cuba.
00:39:00So that's something that Cuba has that a lot of other places don't have. Peter?
00:39:03President Trump, thank you. I do want to ask you about Minnesota, but first just more on topic.
00:39:09President Zelensky said that he was watching with the rest of the world
00:39:12as you made this order to go and capture Nicolas Maduro. And he said,
00:39:17if that's how it works with dictators, then the United States knows what to do next.
00:39:21It sounds like he wants you to go and capture Vladimir Putin.
00:39:24Would you ever order a mission to go and capture Vladimir Putin?
00:39:27Well, I don't think it's going to be necessary. I think we're going to have a — we've always —
00:39:31I've always had a great relationship with him. I'm very disappointed. I settled eight wars.
00:39:35I thought this would be in the middle of the pack or maybe one of the easier ones.
00:39:39And I don't know if you know, Peter, the last month they lost 31,000 people,
00:39:44many of them Russian soldiers, and the Russian economy is doing poorly.
00:39:48I think we're going to end up getting it settled. I wish we could have done it quicker,
00:39:53because a lot of people are dying, and mostly soldiers. You know, they get hit in Kyiv and
00:39:58they get hit a little bit here and there, and people are dying there too. But largely,
00:40:03it's the soldier population. When you have 30,000, 31,000 soldiers dying in a period of a month,
00:40:1027,000 the month before, 26,000 the month before that, that's bad stuff. So, as you know,
00:40:18President Biden gave $350 billion to Ukraine to fight. And we would never get that back. Although
00:40:29I did make a rare earth deal to get it back, so we will be getting it back, but shouldn't have done
00:40:33that. It was a — it was a bad thing to do. I will say that right now, because I was able to get NATO to
00:40:41up GDP from 2 percent to 5 percent, NATO's got a lot of money and they are paying for everything. We're not
00:40:47losing any money. We're making a lot of money, I guess, if you think of it, because we're selling
00:40:51them military equipment. They're probably giving it to Ukraine. But we're selling them to NATO,
00:40:56military equipment. We're getting full price and all of that. But that's not a big deal to me.
00:41:01What is a big deal is stopping a war where 30,000 people are being killed every single month.
00:41:06The Press on Minnesota, the Vice President yesterday suggested that Rene Good, who was killed
00:41:13by this ICE officer, was part of a broad left-wing network. What has your team told you about this
00:41:19broad left-wing network? Who is in charge of it? Who's part of it? What's it called?
00:41:25Well, I haven't seen the Vice President's statement,
00:41:27but he's generally very accurate, I hate to say. Look, I watched that yesterday and there
00:41:33are a lot of different forms to it. But there was a woman screaming,
00:41:37shame, shame, shame, shame, shame. She was an agitator, probably a paid agitator. But in my
00:41:43opinion, she was an agitator, a very high-level agitator, so professional, she wouldn't stop
00:41:50screaming. I said, this isn't a normal situation. This is a professional troublemaker, because you
00:41:57heard it and I had it. Now, I will say this, the news sort of turned her down, turned her off,
00:42:02because you're trying to watch. She was so loud and so crazy and just not normal. When somebody
00:42:10sees something like that, they don't go screaming and screaming and the same words. So, I guess you
00:42:18could say professional, but I didn't think she did a very good job. You have agitators and we will
00:42:23always be protecting ICE and we're always going to be protecting our Border Patrol and our law enforcement.
00:42:28Yeah. Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, in your conversations with these oil executives
00:42:36today, did you provide any security guarantees so that they can do their work safely in Venezuela?
00:42:43Yeah. And separately, Mr. President,
00:42:45I'm curious. They will have those guarantees, yes.
00:42:47And separately, Mr. President, I'm curious in terms of the future of Venezuela. Do you see
00:42:52Venezuela now led by Delce Rodriguez as an ally of the U.S.? Is that the way that you view that
00:42:58country right now? Well, right now, they seem to be an ally and I think it'll continue to be an ally.
00:43:02And we don't want to have Russia there. We don't want to have China there. And by the way,
00:43:07we don't want Russia or China going to Greenland, which if we don't take Greenland,
00:43:11you're going to have Russia or China as your next door neighbor. That's not going to happen.
00:43:22The white. Mr. President, thank you. You just said that these companies would have security
00:43:27guarantees if they go in on the ground in Venezuela. They will have. And what is your
00:43:31plan there actually for these companies and those Americans who are going to be on the ground working
00:43:35for these companies? Well, there are going to be Americans. I assume they're going to be using
00:43:39a lot of Americans, but they're going to be using a lot of people from Venezuela and other places,
00:43:43I would imagine. But I would think that mostly they'll be using Venezuelan workers. They have
00:43:47a lot of great workers. They have a very high unemployment rate. And they have workers that
00:43:52are very familiar with taking oil out of the ground. Yeah. How long do you think the Ayatollah
00:43:58will be in power after what we've seen play out on the ground there? When is the U.S. going to get
00:44:02involved now that reports of protesters being killed on the ground? So Iran's in big trouble.
00:44:07It looks to me that the people are taking over certain cities that nobody thought were really
00:44:13possible just a few weeks ago. We're watching the situation very carefully. I've made the
00:44:19statement very strongly that if they start killing people like they have in the past,
00:44:23we will get involved. We'll be hitting them very hard where it hurts. And that doesn't mean boots on
00:44:28the ground, but it means hitting them very, very hard where it hurts. So we don't want that to happen.
00:44:34There have been cases like this where President Obama totally backed down. But this is something
00:44:41pretty incredible that's happening in Iran. It's an amazing thing to watch. They've done a bad
00:44:46job. They've treated their people very badly. And now they're being paid back. So let's see what
00:44:51happens. We're watching it. We're watching it very closely. Yes, go ahead. Thank you so much,
00:45:00Mr. President. Do you have any comments on reaction to the recent attacks by the Syrian
00:45:05government alignment groups against U.S.-backed Kurdish forces in Aleppo, Syria, which killed
00:45:10dozens of civilians and displacing many families? Does your administration bring peace between the Kurds
00:45:16and the Syrian government? I want to see peace. Yes, I do. The Kurds and the Syrian government,
00:45:20we get along with both, as you know, very well. They have been natural enemies over the years,
00:45:25but we get along both. And we want to see Syria succeed. And so far, I think they are succeeding,
00:45:32but this is just breaking out. And we want to see that stopped.
00:45:35Mr. President, I want to see the President of Colombia.
00:45:39Go ahead, please. Sir, you're meeting with the President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro,
00:45:43in a few weeks. Do you hope this meeting with Gustavo Petro marks a new chapter,
00:45:47a new beginning in the benefit of the U.S.-Colombia relations?
00:45:50Yes, you said what country? What country?
00:45:52Colombia, with the President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro.
00:45:53Yes, I had a very good talk with him yesterday. And he's been very hostile to us and to the nation
00:46:01and to me. Called me a dictator and lots of other things. Called Biden some terrible names, far worse than he
00:46:08called me. But he called yesterday through people, and he wants to meet. And that's fine with me.
00:46:15I've made up with people also, you know. So we're going to have a meeting with him. We had a very good
00:46:20conversation. The people of Colombia are incredible people. Marco would know that better than anybody,
00:46:27because he's married to a woman from Colombia. And I don't mean Colombia University. I'm not sure.
00:46:34I think I like Colombia, the country better. If you want to know the truth. The people, the people are,
00:46:40the people, hold it, hold it, hold it. The people, the people are great people.
00:46:43I look forward to meeting with him. We're going to meet in the very near future.
00:46:48Would you meet the president, the interim president of Venezuela here in the White House?
00:46:52Would you greet her to discuss the fate of the oil?
00:46:55Well, I'm going to meet a lot of people. And we're going to meet, you know, we meet a lot of people.
00:47:00When you end eight wars, you get to know a lot of people. And I think it's very important. As an
00:47:05example, we have over $18 trillion, think of it, $18 trillion coming into our country. A lot of that's
00:47:13coming in from foreign countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar and UAE and others. And I get to meet a lot
00:47:19of people. But I will be meeting with various representatives of Venezuela probably pretty soon.
00:47:26We haven't set that up. But the relationship that we have with the people that are currently
00:47:31running Venezuela is very good. We also have a young lady that received the Nobel Peace Prize.
00:47:38She's going to come in and pay her regards to our country, really, to me. But, you know,
00:47:43I'm a representative of the country, nothing else. And she's coming in sometime next week.
00:47:49I think Wednesday, Tuesday or Wednesday. And we'll see how that is. But, no, no,
00:47:54we're going to be we're dealing with the people from Venezuela. We're dealing with them very well.
00:47:58I think they've been very smart in the way they've dealt with us, frankly, because that
00:48:02whole place could have been obliterated with one more strike. And we didn't want to do that.
00:48:05Thank you so much. I have a question for you on Minneapolis,
00:48:11but on Venezuela and your meeting with Machado next week,
00:48:14if she gives you her Nobel Peace Prize, will that change your view about her running that country?
00:48:18Well, I have to speak to her. I mean, I'm going to have to speak to her. She might be involved in
00:48:23some aspect of it. I will have to speak to her. I think it's very nice that she wants to come in.
00:48:27And that's what I understand. The reason is because Norway is very embarrassed by what took place.
00:48:34I mean, they're getting decimated. Look, whether people like Trump or don't like Trump,
00:48:40I settled eight wars, big ones, some going on for 36 years, 32 years, 31 years, 28 years, 25 years,
00:48:50some just getting ready to start, like India and Pakistan, where already eight jets were shot out
00:48:56of the air. And I got it done in rapid order, without nuclear weapons. I can't think of anybody
00:49:04in history that should get the Nobel Prize more than me. And I don't want to be bragging,
00:49:08but nobody else settled wars. Obama got the Nobel Prize. He had no idea why. He still has no idea.
00:49:14He walks around. He says, I got the Nobel Prize. Why did he get a Nobel Prize? He got it almost
00:49:19immediately upon attaining office. And he didn't do anything. And he was a bad president. So,
00:49:25I mean, you should get the Nobel Prize for every war you stopped. These were major wars. These were
00:49:30wars that nobody thought could be stopped. President Putin called me, and he said about
00:49:35two of the wars that he's been trying to stop them for 10 years, he wasn't able to do it. He
00:49:39couldn't believe it. So in theory, you should get the Nobel Prize for every war you stopped. Every one of
00:49:43was major. But I don't care about that. What I care about is saving lives. I've saved tens of
00:49:50millions of lives. You know, the prime minister of Pakistan came here, and he made a very public
00:49:56statement. He said that President Trump saved minimal. It's not going to happen. We are not going
00:50:01to have, and I like China. I like Russia. I love the people of China. I love the people of Russia. I get
00:50:08along very well with President Putin, but I'm very disappointed in him. I get along very well with
00:50:13President Xi. I'm going to go over to China in April, but I don't want them as a neighbor in
00:50:18Greenland. Not going to happen. And by the way, and NATO's got to understand that. I'm all for NATO.
00:50:24I saved NATO. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have a NATO right now. But we're not going to allow
00:50:30Russia or China to occupy Greenland, and that's what's going to happen if we don't.
00:50:38Go ahead. On the economic report that came out today, Mr. President, one,
00:50:41can you respond to that? And two... It was an amazing report.
00:50:45The amazing... And the most amazing thing is government jobs are way down,
00:50:49and yet the employment came... Unemployment or the employment numbers are very good.
00:50:54We've gotten rid of tremendous numbers of federal jobs, government jobs. Nobody's ever seen anything
00:51:00like it. And yet the employment numbers are very good. They're really getting better. But now we have
00:51:05all those people to work in the private sector for a lot more money. I think that's one of the very big
00:51:10things. The other thing is that 5.4 percent... And remember, this is after we had a shutdown.
00:51:16And that shutdown had an impact because the concept of the shutdown, even though it's before,
00:51:21people knew we were going to be shutting down. A lot of bad things happened. And by the way,
00:51:26on January 30th, you may have another shutdown. We'll see what happens. But I think the numbers,
00:51:31Caitlin, were really amazing. Look, to think about 5.4 percent, nobody thought that. They thought it was
00:51:38going to be 2 percent. And you know what it is? It's tariffs. And it's also November 5th. We had a
00:51:43great election. A great, great election. Our country was dead one and a half years ago. And now we have
00:51:51the hottest country anywhere in the world. And I hope you guys were impressed. 5.4 percent. And we
00:51:57haven't even really transitioned yet. There's no reason it can't be much, much higher than that.
00:52:02Yeah. First off, can you respond to the manufacturing numbers?
00:52:10Let's give CNN a chance. You know, they've been fighting so hard to get back into the mainstream.
00:52:15Mr. President, you posted some numbers actually on Truth Social last night. People saying you posted
00:52:19the job data early, when you're not supposed to obviously share it until the next morning.
00:52:23Did you do that on purpose? No, no. I don't know. If they posted them,
00:52:26I said, post them whenever you get a chance. I don't know. They gave me some numbers.
00:52:29I post. When people give me things, I post them. But the numbers, the numbers are amazing.
00:52:35Yeah, please. How does the administration plan
00:52:39to distribute the money from the Venezuela oil sales? Is it, obviously you say it's going to go
00:52:44into these controlled accounts. Would it go back to Venezuela in a direct payment? Is it going through
00:52:48these goods? How do you plan to do that? Well, we want to make sure that Venezuela can survive.
00:52:52You know, Venezuela needs money. And we're going to make sure that they get money. And we're going to get
00:52:57money. And the oil companies are going to make something for the work they do. And they're going
00:53:01to get back their money. We're devising a formula. But it won't be so much of a formula. It's going
00:53:06to be what they need. We're going to take care of what they need. There'll be plenty left over.
00:53:09We're going to have a lot of money left over. And the money left over is going to the United States
00:53:14of America. And the oil companies are going to be very happy. Yeah, please.
00:53:19Thank you, Mr. President.
00:53:21My second question is, would the administration offer a backstop to these oil companies
00:53:26for, like, financial guarantees, some sort of backstop, if the country did destabilize again?
00:53:30That's a very interesting question. Using the word backstop. I haven't heard that word in a long time.
00:53:35That was at the Wharton School of Finance I last heard. That's a good term.
00:53:39We ought to use it more often. I hope I don't have to give a backstop. I'm just, look,
00:53:43these are very smart people, the smartest people. They're not only in oil and business. These are
00:53:49the biggest companies in the world sitting around this table. They know the risks. I mean,
00:53:54there are risks. We're going to help them out. We're going to make it real easy. They're going
00:53:57to be there for a long time. We're going to be there together for a long, long time. And they're
00:54:02going to be taking the oil and they're going to be bringing oil prices down. They're going to make a lot
00:54:07of money. They're going to get their money back. They're going to be safe. The people of Venezuela are going to be
00:54:12big beneficiaries. And the United States of America is going to be a big beneficiary
00:54:16for what we've done. And you know, one other thing I might say, it's also very big for national
00:54:24security. Because again, just like Greenland, we can't have China or Russia occupy Greenland.
00:54:29We can't have China or Russia occupy Venezuela. And if we didn't do what we did, China or Russia would have
00:54:36been in Venezuela. I think I can. Where's Mr. Chevron? So let me ask you, they would have been there
00:54:43if we didn't do this. Do you agree with that? They certainly have a lot of economic interests
00:54:48in country. There's absolutely no argument about that. They were trying to be there. I mean,
00:54:52you know, we had a Russia, I guess sort of semi, I call it a semi-Russian ship yesterday that we took
00:54:59over and Russia decided not to defend that ship against us. It's a big movement. The ship was
00:55:07loaded up with oil and we took the oil and it came out of that port. But Russia would be there
00:55:13or China would be there. And we want them to be there for a different reason. We want them. Do
00:55:17people agree? In particular, China, they need a lot of oil. Russia doesn't need so much. But Russia was
00:55:24there anyway. But I assume you agree that China would like to be doing a lot of business there by
00:55:30buying oil. And I want to just tell President Xi and President Putin, but more so in this case,
00:55:36President Xi, because they do need a lot of oil. And we are open for business in the United States,
00:55:42and we are open for business in Venezuela, right?
00:55:45Go ahead. I could take questions from these people all day long. You know, they're sitting
00:55:57here and generally they're very rich, very powerful, but nobody gives a damn about them.
00:56:04It's a sad thing. You have all that money, all that power. And look at all these crazy questions.
00:56:09We could do this all day long and they wouldn't be satisfied. We'll take a few more. Let me ask
00:56:17you more importantly, do you have any questions from the biggest? Hold it. Do you have any questions
00:56:23for the biggest people on Earth, the biggest business people, the biggest companies anywhere
00:56:29on Earth? Do you have any questions for these people? No, no. Do you have a question for them?
00:56:35Yes. But have you heard from any of the companies in the room that they are committed to rebuilding
00:56:41the oil infrastructure in Venezuela? And for the executives in the room,
00:56:46what do you need from the administration in order to invest? That's a good question.
00:56:51Do you want to go and answer that question? Exxon, small company. I'll refer you back to the
00:56:57statements I made before. There are a number of legal and commercial frameworks that would have to be
00:57:02established to even understand what kind of returns that we'd get on the investments. So I think
00:57:07all the investments and the opportunity sets, I think everyone sitting around this table would have
00:57:12the opportunity and the know-how and the capability to make the investments. The questions will ultimately
00:57:17be, how durable are the protections from a financial standpoint? What do the returns look like?
00:57:23What are the commercial arrangements, the legal frameworks? All those things have to be put in place
00:57:28in order to make a decision to understand what your return would be over the next several decades that
00:57:33these billion-dollar investments would be made on. You know, could I do this? Because we have,
00:57:39again, the biggest people on the planet Earth around this table, biggest companies in the world,
00:57:45I'd like to just ask them to introduce themselves. We'll start from this end and go around to here.
00:57:51And if you have anything to quickly say, we can do that. But do you want to just start right over
00:57:57here? These two guys, we'll leave them out because they're with us. Please.
00:58:01Thank you, President Trump. John Addison at VTOL, we're here to ensure that you are going to be able
00:58:06to move all of this oil all around the world at the best price possible so that the influence that you
00:58:11have over the Venezuelans will ensure that you get what you want. Thank you. Thank you. Good point.
00:58:17Thank you, Mr. President. Ryan Sheffield of Formentera. My grandfather, Hugh Sheffield,
00:58:25was president of Arco, Venezuela. Right. Thank you for what you did.
00:58:30Do you like what we're doing? There's a lot of shell there. A lot of upside.
00:58:35He would be very happy looking down. He'd be very proud of you right now, right?
00:58:38Yes, sir. Good. Thank you. Mr. President, Luis Rodriguez,
00:58:43I'm probably the only Venezuelan-American sitting on this, around this table. I want to personally
00:58:51thank you for the courage of your actions over the last couple of weeks. I think I speak,
00:58:59and I speak of Venezuela in general in saying there's optimism. You've brought optimism to the table.
00:59:07And if the conditions are met, the opportunity is absolutely immense.
00:59:13I agree with that. That's true. Thank you. Well said, too. It's immense. This is a tremendous
00:59:19opportunity. Thank you. Richard Holton from Trafigura. We're working with your administration,
00:59:26Mr. President, to bring that Venezuelan oil to the United States. Our first vessel should load in the next
00:59:31week. Good job. Thank you. I think the reason that most of us are here and thinking about the future
00:59:41is because we trust you initially to set this program up that will work and guarantee that this
00:59:49can be done. And there's a huge investment that needs to be done. We've all agreed on that. And certainly
00:59:55we need time to see that through. So thank you for what you've done. Thank you very much. Thank you.
01:00:01Mr. President, I'm Lane Riggs, CEO of Valero Energy. And we're one of those companies that
01:00:07refineries in the U.S. are uniquely configured to run Venezuelan oil. And we're
01:00:11more than happy as this opportunity expands for us to further invest in our refineries to
01:00:16produce more of it. And you're very much set up for the heavy oil, right?
01:00:20Yes, sir. That's great. That's great. We're really we're ready for it.
01:00:24Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you for having us here.
01:00:29Thank you. And thank you for opening the door to a better Venezuela.
01:00:34We are a Spanish company that we are fully committed to invest here in the States.
01:00:39We have invested over the last 15 years, 21 billion dollars in the American oil and gas industry
01:00:47in Pennsylvania, in the Gulf of America, in Texas, and in Alaska, with the discovery of PICA,
01:00:53that is going to have the first oil this quarter, and is going to change,
01:00:58is going to reverse the declining history of that great state of Alaska.
01:01:03We are in Venezuela, Mr. President. With our partners of ENI, we produce the gas that guarantees
01:01:10the stability of a half of the great power in Venezuela. So we are committed with this stability.
01:01:16And on top of that, we are on the ground. We have people. We have facilities. We have technical
01:01:21capabilities. And I take your point, Mr. President. We are ready to invest more in Venezuela.
01:01:27Today, we are producing 45,000 barrels a day gross of oil. And we are ready to multiply by three,
01:01:37this figure in coming two, three years investing hard in the country, following your recommendation,
01:01:44if you allow us, of course, and in the framework, commercial and legal framework that could allow
01:01:49this growth. So thank you, Mr. President. Thank you. Great job you've done. Thank you.
01:01:54Mr. President, thank you for having me. Matt Sheehy. I'm with Tallgrass Energy.
01:01:58We are an infrastructure business. So whether it's oil, gas, CO2, we move that around. So
01:02:03most of my customers are sitting around the table and happy to lend our expertise to what's going on
01:02:08in Venezuela to support the people. And obviously, infrastructure is going to be critical to see it
01:02:14repaired. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. President, thank you. An honor to be here. Marianne Manon,
01:02:20Marathon Petroleum. We are one of the largest U.S. refiners on behalf of the men and women of Marathon
01:02:25Petroleum and of our industry. Thank you and the administration for what you're doing for U.S.
01:02:31energy independence. We have the ability and the capability of our assets to process
01:02:36Venezuelan crude and the people of Marathon Petroleum stand ready to do so.
01:02:39Do we need more refineries in our country?
01:02:42In the U.S., probably not. We have sufficient capacity.
01:02:46That's amazing. A lot of it was approved during my first term. We were getting you approvals
01:02:50that nobody could have gotten in Louisiana and other places. And they got built. Before that,
01:02:55it was a disaster. We didn't have the refineries. Now we do because of the first term. Please.
01:03:00Darren Woods, ExxonMobil. Okay. We'll go over here.
01:03:06Thank you, Mr. President. Jeff Hildebrand, founder and chairman of Hillcorp Energy,
01:03:12one of the privates, one of the largest private energy companies in America.
01:03:16Who's bigger, you or Harold? We're close.
01:03:19Huh? We're close. Harold. Harold.
01:03:22Absolutely, Mr. Hamm. But thank you for your great, tremendous leadership in protecting the
01:03:29interest in Western Hemisphere. The message that you have sent to China and our enemies
01:03:34to stay out of our backyard is absolutely fantastic. So thank you.
01:03:38Thank you very much.
01:03:39And finally, Hillcorp is fully committed and ready to go to rebuilding the infrastructure in Venezuela.
01:03:44You'll go there? You'll be going?
01:03:46Yes.
01:03:46Good. That's good. You'll be very happy.
01:03:49Thank you very much.
01:03:50Thank you, Mr. President. Jeff Miller, CEO of Halliburton Company. We are the largest American
01:03:57oil field services company. We're the second largest in the world. Been in business over 100 years.
01:04:04Started operations in Venezuela in 1938, a long time in Venezuela. I personally lived there for four
01:04:12years and raised my kids there. So quite familiar with Venezuela and just couldn't express gratitude
01:04:19more so for the opportunity to return to Venezuela under the stability that I know that this team and
01:04:28your team are able to deliver. When did you leave? Huh? When did you leave Venezuela?
01:04:33As a company, we left under the sanctions in 2019. So we had intended to stay. And then when the sanctions
01:04:39went into place, we were required to leave. But very much interested in returning. Have 600 Venezuelans
01:04:46with Halliburton today all around the world. Look forward to putting them back to work.
01:04:50Great job. Great job. Thank you.
01:04:51You'll be back. Please.
01:04:54Mr. President, I'm Alex Kranberg. My company, Aspect Energy, is one of the leading American
01:05:00international wildcatters. We've found significant fields in central and south.
01:05:04Are you a wildcatter?
01:05:05I'm a wildcatter.
01:05:06That's pretty cool, I'll tell you. I would have been a wildcatter, too, if I was. And you've been
01:05:11successfully wildcating. We've found significant fields in central and south America, in the
01:05:18Middle East, and in Europe. We're a leading oil producer in Hungary. But probably the most pertinent
01:05:24example is what a wildcatter does is take on risk and try to reduce it. And then other people come in
01:05:29and put more capital in later. So we're kind of kickstarters in the oil industry. We went into
01:05:35Kurdistan very early on, back when people told us it wasn't safe and we shouldn't do it. We found a big
01:05:40field there. And it ultimately has got to be developed along with one of my colleagues here
01:05:46to be one of the big leading fields in Kurdistan. We think that Venezuela has a tremendous amount of
01:05:52opportunity. If you look at the reinvestment required, the investment required, people are
01:05:56talking about hundreds of billions of dollars. But if you put that in perspective, that's a million
01:06:01barrels a day for 15 years. It's $220 billion net cash flow. So what we really need to do is to be
01:06:07able to kickstart production and then reinvest and have the confidence to reinvest in what you're
01:06:13doing by putting the United States in control of the cash flow coming out of the country. It gives
01:06:18country companies like ours the confidence to say we can kickstart this production and then reinvest
01:06:23and reinvest. In Hungary, we've invested a billion dollars in changing the trajectory of Hungarian oil
01:06:28production. We were only able to do that not because we could write a billion dollar check. We're a
01:06:33smaller company. But because we reinvest all the cash flow back in the new production.
01:06:38Good. Good job. Mark Nelson with Chevron again.
01:06:47Thank you, Mr. President. I'm in ICO, Italy. We started working in Venezuela in 1980. We have a lot of
01:06:57oil, but now just the gas is flowing because it's not under sanction. And as my colleague from Repsol said,
01:07:05we cover more than about 50 percent of the electricity in the country. So that is essential to avoid any kind
01:07:13of problem social problem. We own about 4 billion barrels of reserves. So a huge amount in the Orinoco
01:07:23Belt in the central Venezuela. We have now in in the country 500 people, most Venezuelan. And we are
01:07:33ready to invest. Clearly we are ready to invest. We thank you for what for the big efforts and the efficiency
01:07:41of your action. And we are here. And we are here to work together with the U.S. We are also a big
01:07:48investor in the U.S. So we thank you again. And we are there. And we are also ready to join with
01:07:59American companies in our assets to develop and go faster with good investors and good know-how from
01:08:07the U.S. Company. Yeah. Thank you. You've done a great job. Thank you very much.
01:08:14Mr. President Ross Perot, good to see you again. I'm chairman of Hillwood and HKN Energy. We've been in
01:08:19the energy business 45 years. And we have been working with your team quite a bit. We have been in
01:08:25Kurdistan now for 19 years along with Alex and built a very good business. But now with your team,
01:08:31we're looking in Syria. We're now in Libya. And so we are very excited to look at Venezuela with you
01:08:37and your group and look forward to continuing to build this great industry. Thank you very much.
01:08:42Mr. Thank you. Mr. President, thank you for having us here today.
01:08:45We also want from Shell. Of course, we have a huge presence here in the U.S. and the Gulf,
01:08:51as well as in Pennsylvania with the petrochemical facility, which I think we had the opportunity to
01:08:55host you at, as well as being one of the largest LNG offtakers of American LNG. We have been in
01:09:02Venezuela for a very long time. We actually drilled in 1914 the first well that discovered oil in
01:09:08Venezuela, and on the back of which the entire energy industry was established in Venezuela. When we
01:09:15left in the 1970s because of nationalization, we had a million barrels per day of production. But we
01:09:21have kept boots on the ground in Venezuela all this time, and we now have a few billion dollars worth of
01:09:26opportunities to invest in, subject to OFAC approval. So we are ready to go and looking
01:09:31forward to the investments in support of the Venezuelan people.
01:09:35Mr. That's great. Thank you very much.
01:09:37Mr. Thank you, Mr. President. Ben Marshall, the America's CEO for VTOL.
01:09:42Alongside Chafagura, we're very thankful to have worked with the government and the Venezuelans to be
01:09:46able to bring the crude oil to market at a market price as quickly as we can to help stabilize the country.
01:09:52Thank you. Mr. Thank you.
01:09:53Brian Lance Conoco-Phillips. I'll defer to my colleagues.
01:09:57Thank you, Mr. President. Olivier Lovesh, CEO of SLB or formerly known as Schlumerger,
01:10:03the largest global oil field services. We have been in Venezuela since 1930,
01:10:09and we still operate. We operate today on the ground in support of Chevron. We have ability to scale.
01:10:16We have 1,100 Venezuelans in the company, 2,000 additional that are calling us to go back to country
01:10:22and to go back to work. We're able to mobilize in the last 18 months, 2 weeks, and deliver 50 wells with
01:10:29success. So we're here. We have knowledge of the subsurface like nobody else has. We have boots on the ground,
01:10:36capacity on the ground, $700 million of equipment value on the ground in Venezuela, ready to mobilize for all of our
01:10:44partners, customers. So we're ready to scale fast. And we really want to thank the administration,
01:10:51Secretary Wright, Secretary Bergen, for the effort they are supporting and giving us to be successful
01:10:57on behalf of the Venezuelan oil and gas industry. Thank you very much.
01:11:00Thank you very much.
01:11:01Bill Armstrong, Well, check this out. They saved the very best for last.
01:11:05And I don't have that sexy accent like this guy next to me here.
01:11:09Mr. President, my name's Bill Armstrong of Armstrong Oil and Gas. I'm a private, independent guy. And
01:11:16in real estate, you were a wildcatter. So wear that motto proudly. But like you, I was my own guy.
01:11:28I don't have shareholders. I don't have private equity partners. But I've been drilling all over the place.
01:11:33In fact, I had the largest discovery in Alaska, biggest discovery in 50 years in our country.
01:11:39I now control 8 million acres adjacent to Venezuela. So I'm already heavily invested in the area.
01:11:45We share a 150-mile border with Venezuela in the countries of Aruba and Curaçao. And we are ready
01:11:51to go to Venezuela. In real estate terms, it is prime real estate. And it's kind of like West Palm about 50
01:12:00years ago. Yeah. Very right. Yep. I agree with you. Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you.
01:12:07So I think what we're going to do is speak without the press to these gentlemen, see what kind of a deal
01:12:14we can make. We're going to get them involved. I'm going to ask Doug and Chris and some of the people
01:12:22that we have from the business standpoint representing our country to start talking about the confines
01:12:29of a deal. I have an idea what I want, what I think we should have. We have to get them to invest. And
01:12:35then we have to get their money back as quickly as we can. And then we can divvy it all up between
01:12:39Venezuela, the United States and them. I think it's simple. I think the formula is simple. We start with a
01:12:46brand new plate and it's going to be a tremendous success. I think it's going to be probably like
01:12:51few other things could ever be. You know, there's so much there's so much. Venezuela has been
01:12:59really taken advantage of by a lot of people because they drill very little. I mean, as much as
01:13:04you hear they have, they drill very, very little, very small percentage. But now that'll change and
01:13:09it'll change very rapidly because these are the biggest people and it'll change very rapidly. So if you
01:13:14don't mind, I'll let us the press to leave. And we will see what kind of a deal we're going to make
01:13:19with these geniuses. And I think you're going to come out very good. Thank you all very much.
01:13:23Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President.
01:13:35Thank you, Mr. President.
01:13:44Thank you, Mr. President.
01:13:54Thank you, Mr. President.
01:13:58Thank you, Mr. President.
01:14:17Thank you, Mr. President.
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