President Donald Trump says the US oil industry could be “up and running” with increased operations in Venezuela within 18 months, after a surprise military operation removed President Nicolás Maduro from power.
Trump told NBC News that “a tremendous amount of money will have to be spent, and the oil companies will spend it, and the oil companies will spend it, and then they’ll get reimbursed by us or through revenue”.
Representatives from major US petroleum companies planned to meet the Trump administration later this week, BBC’s partner CBS News reported.
Analysts previously told the BBC it could take tens of billions of dollars, and potentially a decade, to restore Venezuela’s former output.
Trump’s remarks came days after he said the US would “run” Venezuela after the ousting of Maduro – who has now been brought to the US to face criminal charges.
Speaking to NBC about his 18-month timeframe, Trump speculated that oil production could ramp up “in less time than that, but it’ll be a lot of money”.
He has been explicit about his ambitions for American petroleum companies to scale up their operations in the country.
Trump has claimed in recent days that American oil companies can fix Venezuela’s oil infrastructure.
The country has an estimated 303bn barrels, the world’s largest proven reserve – but its oil production has been in decline since the early 2000s.
Credit: bbc.com
