Exxon ready to evaluate reentering Venezuela, will send team in a few weeks, CEO says

HOUSTON, (Reuters) – Exxon Mobil XOM.N CEO Darren Woods said today the U.S. oil major could hit the ground running in Venezuela and was ready to evaluate potentially returning to the country.

“It’s absolutely critical that we get a technical team in place to assess the current state of the industry,” Woods said.

“We are ready to put a team on the ground there,” he added, saying that could begin in a few weeks.

The comments were made during a White House meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump and other oil executives to discuss the future of the OPEC nation’s oil industry. U.S. forces seized the South American country’s leader Nicolas Maduro in a brazen overnight raid on its capital January 3.

Exxon had a storied history in Venezuela before its assets were expropriated under former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Woods said the existing legal frameworks make Venezuela not suitable for investment currently and that Exxon needed durable investment protections and laws to change in the country.