Oil Change International response to Trump’s planned meeting with oil executives on Venezuela

President Trump is expected to meet with oil industry executives today to discuss their cooperation with his plans to take over Venezuela’s oil industry. Representatives from Chevron, Exxon, ConocoPhillips, and Continental Resources are expected to attend.

Chevron is the last remaining U.S. oil company in Venezuela, and widely seen as best positioned to profit from U.S. aggression in the country. Exxon and ConocoPhillips left the country after former Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez’s renegotiation of their contracts in 2007. If a U.S.-friendly government were installed in Venezuela, it is more likely that their claims would be paid. Continental Resources is run by major Trump ally Harold Hamm, and is one of the few oil companies to have publicly expressed interest in investing in Venezuela since Trump’s strikes.

Oil Change International U.S. program manager Allie Rosenbluth said:

“American fossil fuel companies who’ve bought access to the Trump administration stand to benefit most from Trump’s illegal acts of aggression in Venezuela. Today’s meeting is meant to ensure the future of Venezuela is being shaped in a way that maximizes Big Oil profits and Trump’s power.

“Meanwhile, the Venezuelan people, U.S. taxpayers, and our climate are being set up to pay the price. At least 75 people in Venezuela have already been killed by the Trump administration’s strikes. Many others stand to be harmed by the chaos created by Trump’s fossil-fueled imperialism.

“U.S taxpayers are already footing the bill for Trump’s attacks on Venezuela, as well as for $35 billion worth of giveaways to the fossil fuel industry each year. If U.S. government agencies are pulled in to provide guarantees and financing for U.S. companies to continue oil production in Venezuela, U.S. taxpayers will be forced to pay even more, even as this administration refuses to fund healthcare, housing, and other necessities for working people.

“Our climate can’t afford any new oil and gas development, let alone on the scale Trump envisions for Venezuela, and our world can’t afford new wars. Existing oil and gas reserves are enough to push us past 1.5 degrees of warming, putting communities across the world in danger from climate-fueled hurricanes, fires, and droughts.

“Trump’s aggression in Venezuela is leading us to a hotter, more polluted, and more dangerous world – all to enrich himself and his fossil-fuel donors. Today’s meeting is proof of that. To protect our communities from climate disasters and more wars for oil, we need to reject extractive energy models and build democratic systems that prioritize community health and safety.”