They saw that there were too many negatives for taking over old infrastructure or drilling and building new. Venezuela’s laws are also a big muddle and are likely to remain that way for some time: why should Exxon Mobil go in someplace, drop hundreds of millions (or more) on Venezuelan properties only to have it nationalized when Orange Julius is gone?

Orange Julius’ Venezuelan operation looks like it was thought up by some idiot(s) who don’t know anything about the oil business.

They see that the regime who sucks all the money from Venezuela's natural resources is not going anywhere, trump just wants to become an associate of the regime and get his commission, Exxon and the other oil companies see that.

trump and Rubio have already thrown the duly elected people during the last election, Edmundo Gonzalez, and Nobel Prize winner Maria Conchita Machado under the bus. trump wants to place one of the regime gang members, Delcy Rodriguez (part of a gang family) as president because he knows he can get them to do anything corrupt that will benefit him personally, but he knows that Machado and Gonzaleez will most probably not play that game, and that is a concern for companies contemplating investments in a country where law and order will not become part of the deal.

Oil companies may be seeing this as trump having them invest heavy amounts of money (using their money), which will take them more than a decade to begin making a profit while trump, his minions and the Venezuelan regime continue to suck up the money from it.

Venezuelans, put aside the fact that they are dealing with a crook, a convicted felon who has no interest in helping anyone but himself, and I understand, they are desperate to get rid of the regime, but that is not what trump has in mind, trump feels well amongst thieves, so he needs the regime to do his dirty work. I feel bad for the Venezuelan people, I hope that I am wrong, but I don't see anything good coming out of this. Maduro should end the rest of his life in jail for allowing torture, crime, corruption, to reign in that country, but lets be real, he did not plan any of it, he is not smart enough to have fresh ideas, the real architects are the ones negotiating with trump, and those are the ones who are still in power, becoming trump's associates in the continued debacle that is Venezuela. "God creates them and they join together," thieves amongst thieves.

No one wants to throw money into Venezuela; they have all had experience with that and it wasn't good for them.

said Gropenfuhrer

Exxon needs to be ready with a massive suit if Trump takes any action against them. Hit the government and Trump personally.

supported during the last election. I'm sure they pumped millions into Orangey's campaign.

Now, they dare to tell the emperor that he has no clothes, stating the obvious that Venezuela isn't worth investing in.

The oil execs that did nervously say yes are now squirming and desperately looking for an off ramp.

Shart of the deal

“Not really!” There’s a lot of problems with it.”
“Then I am going to forbid you from investing in it.”
“Okay!”
“No, I’m really not going to invest in it.”
“What are you stupid? I said okay.”

"Well since I announced this WONDERFUL opportunity that you refused to accept, then I'll have a word with Chris (Wright), and he'll take a look at your licenses, as I understand that some may not be 'in order'."

that we would somehow have a president that actually put me (somewhat) on the same side as oil and Big Pharma. I still think both have caused great harm and need a lot more regulation, but I actually tend to agree with their POV when it comes to Trump.
.

Is above the current price of oil. He can't increase supply without lowering prices which will hurt US oil companies.

There was a lease bidding for CO land the day before with no takers.

Venezuelan crude will take over $80 to produce. Plus 20 billion in infrastructure maintenance.

Drill baby drill is dead.

By then, the US may already be out of Venezuela but a Democrat would certainly stop “running” the country. Any action on Greenland would be reversed. No CEO wants to invest billions to create an industry that might only be operational for a year before it gets dismantled again or the terms get renegotiated so that Venezuela gets some of the revenue instead of none as Trump plans. Like most of Trump’s deals, it’s a loser.

But they're playing it out just in case sane people intercede and make it a moot issue.
I can see why they'd rather drill offshore and in wildlife reserves instead of a war torn country with armed rebels. They no doubt think Trump is full of shit as much as we do.

They will have to manufacture "sane people" with $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ to their campaign coffers, complete with specific instructions.

You’re fired!!

Needs or needed to be 90-100 USD to begin to be profitable.

President Psychopath has the worst possible advisors aka synchophants consisting of those who are uninformed and drunk with power simultaneously disregarding facts like this.

Combining a bunch of ignorant 'yes men' types with an ignorant psychopath makes not only a dangerous, but a ridiculously incompetent, combination and that just compounds the danger for us all.

So in the presence of facts, as shared by Exxon Mobil or any other entity, their stupidity is in the spotlight. It becomes an instance of exposing that the emperor has no clothes and is a blatant insult to his ego.

(I have posted this a few times but did find their most recent one within the past week or so - for 2025) -

DALLAS FED BREAKEVENS (2025)

If I'm correctly interpreting the graph, 90 looks like the high for 50% of those reporting and around 80 for the other half. But this addresses drilling new wells. I looked at the site. Numbers seem to be hovering between 90-100 USD.

The downturn is noticeable throughout. The oil companies cannot be too happy about that. President Psychopath dicking around in anything is a recipe for disaster. If they gave him that billion then he's fixed them "good fashion" as granny used to say.

I'm so tired of waking up every morning and saying to myself (and the dog) "I wonder what the president of the United States has fucked up today, so far?"

…. and does not see as building new ones as profitable for a number of reasons such as
Venezuela will be too unstable to invest in Venezuelan oil for a multi number of reasons.

Gee, Donny your Fox News shits might not know what they are talking about.

Exxon, “We see that investing into Venezuelan oil as a money losing venture so we aren’t going to
do that.”

Trump, “O.K. Exxon you can’t invest into Venezuelan oil.”

Exxon, “Fine by us.”

He is greedy and will always demand more. Especially when he thinks he has done something for someone that they need to repay him for. This is how he thinks.

I quit, your fired scenario? Exxon already told the orange buffoon it’s a stupid idea to go into Venezuela!

"My crooked dictator invaded Venezuela, and all I got was ANOTHER crooked dictator!"

big oil, as they are sometimes referred to, is not interested in tossing in good money after bad. This is all Trump; HE wants to profit off of that oil. So, he is doing his usual shakedown like he did to the universities and big law. He wants them to start up operations, and then he will demand his cut. So far it looks like they are not amused.