BREAKING: Trump, just now, on Venezuela: "They took our oil rights. We had a lot of oil there. They threw our companie

[Wiz Imp]

57. Trump administration asking US oil industry to return to Venezuela -- but getting no takers

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/17/trump-oil-venezuela-return-00695292

The American companies have no interst in it at this point. There would currently be no profit to be made.

The markets, glutted with supply and with prices at nearly five-year lows, are giving President Donald Trump an unusually free hand to tighten military pressure on the South American OPEC member, much the way they largely shrugged off U.S. and Israeli missile strikes on Iran in June. But those prices are also way too low to entice companies to take the risk of pouring huge investments into the crumbling Venezuelan oil facilities that former strongman Hugo Chávez seized decades ago, industry officials and analysts said.

The U.S. benchmark oil price was around $56 a barrel Wednesday afternoon, the lowest since January 2021. That means Trump has only limited reason to worry that an attack on Venezuela would send gasoline prices spiraling upward — but it also means U.S. oil companies have better investment options elsewhere.