Exxon Mobil Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Darren Woods meets with oil executives in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on Friday, January 9, 2026.
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US President Donald Trump hints at withdrawal exxon mobil Others from Venezuela’s energy market said they did not like their response to his call for oil companies to quickly re-enter the South American country.
“I didn’t like what Exxon was doing. You know there’s a lot of us that would like that. I would probably want to shut Exxon out,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday.
“They’re playing too cutely,” he added.
His comments came shortly after Exxon CEO Darren Woods made headlines when he said in a White House meeting with President Trump that the Venezuelan market is currently “uninvestable.”
An Exxon spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. Shares fell 1.1% in premarket trading Monday.
Mr. Woods met with several other U.S. oil company executives on Friday and said “pretty significant changes” would be needed if Exxon were to re-enter the country for a third time.
Venezuela seizes Exxon conocophilipsassets were sold in 2007, leaving Caracas billions of dollars in unpaid arbitration claims.
Mr Woods said changes to the commercial framework, legal regime and hydrocarbons laws needed to be considered alongside what the company called “permanent” investment protection.
“We are confident that this administration and President Trump, working with the Venezuelan government, can make these changes happen,” Woods said.
He added that Exxon is willing to send a technical team to assess the current state of Venezuela’s oil industry and assets.
$100 billion push
President Trump has called on U.S. oil companies to invest at least $100 billion in Venezuela’s energy sector and has promised to support oil companies with government security assistance.
The call follows a bold US military operation in Venezuela on January 3 to oust Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Syria Flores.
U.S. President Donald Trump answers questions from reporters aboard Air Force One on his way back to the White House from Palm Beach, Florida, on January 11, 2026.
Samuel Corum | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Asked by reporters to clarify what kind of backstop or security would be provided to oil companies, Trump did not provide specific details.
“We have guarantees,” President Trump said. “They’ve had problems in the past because they didn’t have Trump as president,” he added.
U.S. oil companies acknowledge that Venezuela, home to the world’s largest oil reserves, presents an interesting opportunity, but some have expressed caution about rushing to re-enter the country.
chevron is currently the only major American oil company with ongoing operations in Venezuela.
—CNBC’s Spencer Kimball contributed to this report.
