Many of the small businesses have ties to Denver, Colorado, home of Energy Secretary Chris Wright.
Published January 9, 2026
The White House is convening oil company executives to discuss potential investments in Venezuela, and a preliminary list of attendees includes major U.S. oil companies such as Chevron, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips, but also several smaller independents and private equity-backed companies.
A meeting with US President Donald Trump is scheduled for Friday at 2:30pm (7:30pm Japan time).
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In a post on his Truth Social account, President Trump said the meeting “will be a discussion almost exclusively about Venezuelan oil and our long-term relationship with Venezuela, its security, and its people.”
“A very big factor in this engagement will be lower oil prices for the American people,” he said.
Oil industry officials say only the largest oil producer, the United States, has the scale, capacity and experience to operate in Venezuela. The participation of domestic SMEs in this meeting is noteworthy, given that they primarily operate in the United States.
Continental Resources, which bills itself as the world’s largest private oil and natural gas producer, and HKN, formerly known as Harken Energy, will also participate.
Several of the companies have ties to Denver, Colorado, home of Energy Secretary Chris Wright and a center of relatively small oil and gas activity compared to other parts of the United States.
Crude oil production in PADD 4, the production region that includes Colorado, reached 1.02 million barrels per day (bpd) in October, according to the latest data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. PADD 3, which includes states such as Texas and New Mexico, produced 10.28 million barrels per day that month.
Raisa Energy takes non-operating stakes in energy assets, has a Venezuelan CEO, is based in Denver, and is backed by investment funds Citadel and Ares Management.
Tallgrass Energy, a midstream company with pipeline and terminal assets in areas including the U.S. Rocky Mountains and Oklahoma, and Aspect Holdings, which lists former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy as an independent director, are also headquartered in Denver.
The Department of Energy did not respond to requests for comment. Mr. Raisa, Mr. Tallgrass and Mr. Aspect did not immediately respond to questions about what they may have previously discussed regarding Venezuela ahead of Friday’s meeting.
While many small and independent companies may not have much experience with Venezuela’s typical heavy oil, they will be familiar with light oil and unexplored shale around Lake Maracaibo, said a longtime oil industry executive.
“While they don’t have the capital of Exxon, Chevron or ConocoPhillips, independent companies are known to move much more quickly. Their lower cost structure allows them to drill wells much cheaper than the big players,” the person said.
