exxon mobil CEO Darren Woods said Friday that for investments in Venezuela’s battered oil industry to make sense, the country needs to transition to democracy.
President Donald Trump is pressuring oil companies to invest at least $100 billion in Venezuela to rebuild the country’s oil industry after the United States detained former President Nicolas Maduro on January 3.
However, Woods told President Trump at the White House on January 9 that Venezuela is currently “uninvestable.” The Exxon CEO’s frank assessment infuriated the president, who threatened to bar the oil giant from future investment in the country.
Woods stood by his assessment in an interview with CNBC on Friday. He said the Caracas government needs to make major reforms before Exxon seriously considers returning to Venezuela.
“Our priorities start with one thing: the stability of our country,” Woods said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “The second is to revitalize the economy, undo some of the damage caused by decades of abuses inflicted by dictators, and finally move to representative government.”
The Trump administration has not presented a clear plan for Venezuela to hold elections and transition to a democratic government. Government officials said they are now focused on stabilizing the country and improving the economy through oil sales.
The United States has been working with Venezuela’s acting president Delcy Rodríguez, a longtime insider in the authoritarian regime established by former president Hugo Chávez. There are growing concerns among some officials that cooperation with Mr. Rodriguez could keep the current system in place as long as the Trump administration’s demands for oil are met.
Exxon withdrew from Venezuela in 2007 after its assets were confiscated by the Chávez government. Unpaid bills owed to Caracas due to nationalization run into billions of dollars.
“Frankly, from our perspective, the principle is that if you don’t uphold the sanctity of the contract, or if you choose to steal the investments we’ve made and undermine the work we’ve done, we can’t continue to work with you,” Woods said.
President Trump told oil industry chief executives at a White House meeting that his administration would not force Venezuela to fulfill its 2007 nationalization claims.
President Trump said on January 9: “We’re not going to look at what people lost in the past, because it was their fault. That was a different president. We’re going to make a lot of money, but we’re not going to go back.”
Venezuela is a founding member of OPEC and is thought to have the world’s largest oil reserves, but its energy infrastructure is in a state of disrepair.
Investments to repair Venezuela’s infrastructure could be financially difficult at this point, as global oil surpluses have driven down prices. Oil prices in 2025 recorded their steepest annual decline since 2020 as OPEC+ increased production and the US continued to provide strong oil supplies.
Earlier Friday, Exxon reported fourth-quarter results that beat Wall Street expectations, but profits and sales were both lower than a year ago due to weak oil prices. Notably, Exxon achieved its highest annual net production in more than 40 years, at 4.7 million barrels per day. The company pumped 4.98 million barrels per day in the quarter, setting a production record for the same period with assets in the Permian Basin and Guyana.
Exxon’s rival chevronis the only US oil major operating in Venezuela under a special license issued by the Treasury Department. Chevron says it can increase production in Venezuela by 50% over the next 18 to 24 months.
Although Exxon’s stock price fell more than 1% after the earnings release, the company’s stock got off to a strong start to the year. The stock has risen nearly 16% in 2026, outpacing the S&P 500’s 1.6% rise.
