WASHINGTON: President Trump said on Friday that Washington will decide which oil companies are allowed to invest in Venezuela, underscoring his hands-on approach to reopening the country’s beleaguered oil sector.

Trump made the remarks after he met the heads of major oil companies. He said the world’s biggest producers have pledged $100 billion to revive Venezuela’s oil sector.

“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,” Trump said to open the meeting.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Energy Secretary Chris Wright attended the meeting along with representatives of Chevron, Exxon, Conoco Phillips, Continental, Halliburton, HKN, Valero, Marathon, Shell, Trafigura, Vitol Americas, Repsol, Eni, Aspect Holdings, Tallgrass, Raisa Energy and Hilcorp.

Trump said the government would decide which companies would operate in the South American country, and guarantee their “total security”. In a Truth Social post, Trump said “at least 100 billion dollars will be invested by BIG OIL”.

In a social media post, the president said he scrapped a second wave of strikes on Venezuela due to ‘cooperation’ from the country.

The Trump administration has repeatedly said it is running Venezuela, with Wright asserting that Washington will control the country’s oil industry “indefinitely”.

Venezuelan interim President Delcy Rodriguez, who was Maduro’s deputy, has said her government remains in charge, with the state-run oil firm saying only that it was in negotiations with the United States.

In his social media post, Trump said he cancelled a second wave of strikes on Venezuela due to “cooperation” from the country. Chevron is the only US company that currently has a licence to operate in Venezuela.

ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips left in 2007, after refusing then-president Hugo Chavez’s demand that they give up a majority stake in local operations to the government.

Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2026