Trump says US could control 55% of world’s oil

President Donald Trump has said the US would control more than half of the world’s oil production if American companies regain access to Venezuela’s petroleum industry.

Venezuela, which has the world’s largest proven oil reserves, nationalized the assets of US companies in the 2000s during the presidency of socialist Hugo Chavez.

Trump cited the “unfair” nationalization as one of the reasons he sent commandos last week to abduct Chavez’s successor, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, from his compound in Caracas.

“We’re going to be working with Venezuela,” Trump said on Friday during a meeting with executives from oil giants ExxonMobil, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips at the White House.

“American companies will have the opportunity to rebuild Venezuela’s energy infrastructure and eventually increase oil production to levels never seen before. When you add Venezuela and the United States together, we have 55% of the oil in the world,” he added.

Trump announced after the meeting that US companies would invest at least $100 billion in Venezuela’s oil production. Exxon CEO Darren Woods said, however, that Venezuela was “uninvestable” without an overhaul of regulations and a restructuring of its energy sector.

Although the Venezuelan government has not confirmed granting access to American companies, Delcy Rodriguez, a close Maduro ally who was sworn in as acting president in his absence, said earlier this week that Caracas was open to energy projects with all parties, including the US.

Venezuelan officials have denounced what they describe as Trump’s plan to pilfer the country’s resources and condemned the abduction of Maduro as a gross violation of sovereignty.

Maduro pleaded not guilty to drug-trafficking and weapons charges when he was brought before a US judge on Monday.