President Trump said on Sunday that he is inclined to keep oil giant Exxon Mobil out of deals regarding Venezuela following the CEO’s skeptical response to future investment in the South American country.
“I’d probably be inclined to keep Exxon out,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One en route to Washington, D.C.
“I didn’t like their response. They’re playing too cute,” he added.
Trump’s comments come after he hosted Exxon and a number of other major oil firms at the White House on Friday to discuss a deal in which oil companies drill in Venezuela following the U.S. operation to oust the country’s former leader, Nicolás Maduro.
While some firms present at the meeting expressed their interest in investing in the South American country, Exxon CEO Darren Woods expressed skepticism.
“As a depletion business, the biggest challenge we have is finding resources. There’s an opportunity in Venezuela with all the resources,” Woods told Trump at the meeting.
But Woods added that he believes today Venezuela is “uninvestable” and major changes have to be made to the country’s commercial framework and legal system.
Exxon, along with ConocoPhillips, were operating in Venezuela until they left in 2007. Chevron is the only U.S. oil firm currently operating there.
However, Woods did not rule out Exxon becoming involved in the country down the line, saying the oil firm would like to assess the situation on the ground.
“We think it’s absolutely critical in the short term that we get a technical team in place to assess the current state of the industry and the assets to understand what would be involved,” he said.
“With the invitation of the Venezuelan government and with appropriate security guarantees, we are ready to put a team on the ground there. We also have an integrated set of capabilities, from production to refining to trading, and I think we can be of assistance to getting the Venezuelan crude to market,” he added.
