By Sheila Dang and Tanay Dhumal HOUSTON, March 3 (Reuters) – Exxon Mobil aims to send a technical team to Venezuela in a few weeks after working through logistical and security arrangements, an executive said on Tuesday. The U.S. oil major will work with the Venezuelan government and if the right investment terms are in […]
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Exxon to send team to Venezuela in a few weeks, executive says
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By Sheila Dang and Tanay Dhumal
HOUSTON, March 3 (Reuters) – Exxon Mobil aims to send a technical team to Venezuela in a few weeks after working through logistical and security arrangements, an executive said on Tuesday.
The U.S. oil major will work with the Venezuelan government and if the right investment terms are in place “we will be interested in going back,” Senior Vice President Jack Williams said during a Morgan Stanley conference.
U.S. President Donald Trump has urged oil firms to invest $100 billion in Venezuela and rebuild the energy sector after U.S. forces captured and removed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from office in January.
Exxon’s previous assets in the country were expropriated twice before and the company has said it needs durable investment protections before returning.
“We know the resource pretty well. We had a very successful operation there,” Williams said.
He added that Exxon has improved its technology for working with heavy oil resources over the years since leaving Venezuela in 2007. “So I think we can do even better than we were before, in terms of the technology toolkit that we can bring.”
(Reporting by Sheila Dang in Houston and Tanay Dhumal in Bengaluru; Editing by Franklin Paul and Chris Reese)