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Latest on Venezuela: US seizes another tanker as Trump meets with oil execs
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Watch Live: Trump meets with oil and gas executives on Venezuela
• Source: CNN
Watch Live: Trump meets with oil and gas executives on Venezuela
• Oil meeting: President Donald Trump says he’ll cut a deal soon deciding which US oil companies can enter Venezuela and rebuild the country’s energy infrastructure. After meeting with executives at the White House, Trump repeated his claim that the companies will spend at least $100 billion to do so — a figure that’s been met with skepticism by industry sources.
• Another tanker seized: The US has seized another oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea, according to a source, a move that comes after the US seized two Venezuela-linked tankers earlier this week.
• Further attacks halted: Trump said he canceled a “second wave” of attacks on Venezuela, citing the country’s cooperation with the US in the week since leader Nicolás Maduro was ousted. The Venezuelan government announced yesterday it will release a “significant number” of political prisoners, a key US demand. Sigue nuestra cobertura en español.
President Donald Trump said Friday he would sell China and Russia “all the oil they need” as his administration takes control of Venezuela’s oil sales.
“We are open for business,” he said. “China can buy all the oil they want from us, there or in the United States. Russia can get all the oil they need from us.”
Trump earlier during the White House meeting with energy executives justified his administration’s capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and takeover of the country’s oil production by arguing that adversaries like China and Russia would have if the US didn’t do it first.
“If we didn’t do this, China would have been there and Russia would have been there,” he said.
Trump’s remarks represented a contrast from his past criticism of European allies for doing business with Russia amid its war with Ukraine. The president last year contended that the war would end if NATO countries stopped purchasing oil from Russia.
President Donald Trump on Friday said the plan is for US oil companies to spend “at least $100 billion of their money, not the government’s money” to revitalize Venezuela’s oil infrastructure and eventually pump more oil.
Trump said the companies don’t need US federal funding but “need government protection and the government security” to be able to operate safely in the country. Industry sources have said political stability and security is one of their biggest concerns about going into the country.
Trump also said Venezuela has agreed the US will “immediately begin refining and selling up to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan crude oil, which will continue indefinitely.”
President Donald Trump said Friday that he would personally decide which oil companies are allowed to enter Venezuela under his administration’s plans to rebuild the nation’s energy infrastructure.
“We’re going to be making the decision as to which oil companies are going to go in,” he said at the outset of a White House meeting with more than a dozen energy executives. “We’re going to cut a deal with the companies — we’ll probably do that today or very shortly thereafter.”
Trump added that the oil companies would be dealing directly with the US in negotiations for access to Venezuelan oil, rather than with Venezuela’s leadership.
The push for private sector investment comes days after Trump authorized the overthrow of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and declared the US would “run” the nation indefinitely.
“It’s a whole different Venezuela,” Trump said. “The people of the United States are going to be big beneficiaries.”
Flanked by members of his administration and oil executives, President Donald Trump said the US is “getting along extremely well” with Venezuela.
“We’re getting along extremely well with the people of Venezuela — both the people and the people that are running Venezuela,” he said.
The meeting with oil executives today is part of efforts to persuade the United States’ largest energy companies to return to the South American country.
Trump also touted the military operation that captured Nicolás Maduro and said he was called “by the leaders of numerous countries” who told him it was “impressive.” He didn’t specify which countries he talked to.
US President Donald Trump said Friday that he will focus on Venezuela’s oil and lowering prices for Americans during a meeting with Big Oil executives this afternoon.
“Today’s meeting will almost exclusively be a discussion on Venezuelan Oil, and our longterm relationship with Venezuela, its Security, and People. A very big factor in this involvement will be the reduction of Oil Prices for the American People,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
The meeting is part of an ongoing effort to convince America’s largest energy companies to return to Venezuela. Executives are wary of investing tens of billions of dollars over a decade to restore Venezuela’s oil infrastructure, people familiar with the matter have told CNN.
Executives from oil giants Chevron, Exxon and Conoco are among the more than a dozen attendees expected at the meeting, which could also include representatives from oil trading firms and other parts of the energy sector, two people familiar with the matter said. The invite list at one point featured as many as 19 executives, though the people familiar cautioned that it remained in flux.
To return Venezuela’s production to pre-socialism levels, the oil industry would need to lay pipelines, set up drilling rigs, build port infrastructure and install reliable electricity, among other projects. That would cost more than $10 billion a year and take more than a decade to pay off, according to a consensus from industry experts, insiders and Wright.
However, with the massive oil reserves located in Venezuela, the administration is hoping investors will be lured by the prospective profit. As a start, executives are watching for the US to lift key sanctions that have suppressed Venezuela’s production, as well as provide some of the supplies necessary to move the nation’s heavier crude oil.
Many in Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, are reluctant to express their political views as the country’s future remains uncertain after the capture of President Nicolás Maduro in the early morning hours of January 3.
Journalist Mary Triny Mena reports from the streets of the capital:
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Hear from Venezuelans after Maduro’s capture
Almost a week after the US captured Nicolás Maduro, the response from citizens in Venezuela has remained largely quiet. Journalist Mary Triny Mena went out in the country’s capital, Caracas, to try to get a better sense of how Venezuelans are feeling right now.
01:21 • Source: CNN
Hear from Venezuelans after Maduro’s capture
01:21
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Friday that his country “supports a peaceful transition” in Venezuela, and that he expressed this to Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, and opposition leader Edmundo González.
Spain, along with five Latin American governments, had condemned the US’s military actions last Saturday that resulted in the capture of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
President Donald Trump announced Friday that he will meet with Colombian President Gustavo Petro at the White House during the first week of February.
“I look forward to having a meeting with Gustavo Petro, the President of Colombia, in the White House, during the first week of February. I am sure it will work out very well for Colombia, and the U.S.A., but, cocaine and other drugs must be STOPPED from coming into the United States,” the president wrote on Truth Social.
The two leaders spoke during a phone call on Wednesday, when the president said his secretary of state was working on setting up a meeting.
The invitation from the president comes as his tone on Petro has softened since the weekend, when he called the Colombian president “a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States, and he’s not going to be doing it very long.”
Venezuela’s acting president has no plans to travel outside the country in the near future, the communication ministry said Friday.
It’s unclear what prompted the announcement, but it comes a day after a source told CNN that Delcy Rodriguez had been invited to Bogota after a phone conversation this week with Colombian President Gustavo Petro.
“There are no plans for acting president Delcy Rodriguez to travel abroad in the near future. As a government, we are focused on the domestic agenda to guarantee our people’s right to peace and stability,” Communication Minister Freddy Ñáñez said.
CNN’s Stefano Pozzebon contributed to this report.
The human rights organization Foro Penal says it has confirmed the release of nine political prisoners since yesterday’s announcement by Venezuelan National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez that “a significant number” of the prisoners would be released.
Alfredo Romero – who is president of the group, also known as the Venezuelan Penal Forum – said that as of 11 a.m. Caracas time (10 a.m. ET), eight people had been released, including five Spanish citizens, whom CNN has reported on previously.
Romero shared the list of eight individuals on his X account.
Foro Penal Vice President Gonzalo Himiob later announced the release of a ninth person.
The nine released represents just over 1% of the political prisoners held in Venezuela, Romero said.
Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Pablo Guanipa is not yet on the list, but Romero said he is expected to be among those released.
Opposition leader weighs in: Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González wrote on X today that he held a call with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, in which he emphasized that the release of prisoners must be verified and “cannot be selective.”
González and María Corina Machado, the two most prominent figures in the Venezuelan opposition, have repeatedly called for the release of political prisoners following the US attack on Venezuela last weekend.
Members of the Trump administration told US lawmakers that they also made it clear to Venezuela it must release political prisoners, among other demands following the US capture of ousted leader Nicolás Maduro, a source previously told CNN.
This post has been updated with González’s comments on X and additional background.
Venezuela announced on Friday the start of an “exploratory diplomatic process” with the United States.
The foreign ministry said the process is aimed at “re-establishing diplomatic missions in both countries,” as well as addressing the consequences of what they described as the “aggression and kidnapping” of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
The ministry confirmed that a delegation of diplomatic officials from the US State Department had arrived in the country, saying they would “conduct technical and logistical assessments.”
They also announced that a delegation of Venezuelan diplomats would travel to the United States “to carry out the corresponding duties.”
“Venezuela will confront this aggression through diplomatic channels,” the ministry concluded, referring to the US pressure campaign against Venezuela.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro says he has asked Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, to work together to fight drug trafficking.
He said on X that Latin America must defend itself from any actor that destabilizes it.
“I have invited the current president of Venezuela so that we can act together in this objective,” he said.
Some context: US President Donald Trump has previously said the US military campaign against Venezuela was aimed at fighting drug trafficking, and has repeatedly threatened to carry out operations against traffickers in Colombia, too, which Petro has opposed.
On Wednesday, US tensions with Colombia seemingly eased after Trump spoke with Petro and invited him to meet at the White House in the “near future”
The largest oil reserves of any country on the planet, more than 300 billion barrels, are estimated to lie beneath the ground in Venezuela.
See how the country’s oil infrastructure is mapped out below:
President Donald Trump’s announcement this morning that Big Oil will invest “at least” $100 billion in Venezuela has caught at least some in the industry by surprise.
Trump is scheduled to meet with executives from ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and other companies later today as part of his mission to revive Venezuela’s battered oil industry.
However, oil executives are reluctant to invest aggressively in Venezuela for a range of reasons, including security, rule of law and sanctions concerns.
Oil prices are so low that it’s not a slam dunk to drill aggressively anywhere, let alone in a risky place with a difficult history like Venezuela.
While Trump may try to persuade oil CEOs to make specific investment promises, the source said companies will be reluctant to detail specifics out of fear of running afoul of antitrust laws.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum described the recent statements made by her US counterpart, Donald Trump, about possible ground attacks on cartels as the US president’s “way of communicating” and said that, if necessary, they will speak with him “to strengthen coordination.”
“Because of the statements President Trump has made in recent days, which we consider part of his communication style, I asked Foreign Minister Juan Ramón de la Fuente yesterday to make direct contact with the Secretary of State and, if necessary, speak with President Trump to strengthen coordination,” Sheinbaum said at her morning press conference.
Trump said on Thursday that his administration will soon begin actions to target cartels on the ground and made reference to Mexico.
“We’ve eliminated 97% of the drugs coming in by water, and now we’re going to start attacking them on land, in relation to the cartels,” Trump said on Fox News.
“The cartels are controlling Mexico,” he added. “It’s very, very sad to see what’s happened to that country.”
A US State Department team traveled to Venezuela on Friday for the first time since the ouster of Nicolás Maduro, according to a US official.
The visit comes as the US looks to reopen its embassy in Caracas and underscores the administration’s desire to re-establish a diplomatic presence within the country that President Donald Trump says the US is going to “run.”
The official said that US diplomatic and security personnel from the Venezuela Affairs Unit, which is based in Colombia, and the acting US ambassador to Colombia John McNamara, traveled to the Venezuelan capital “to conduct an initial assessment for a potential phased resumption of operations.”
The US withdrew its diplomats and suspended operations at the embassy in 2019. The Venezuela Affairs Unit has been operating with a team of US diplomats at the embassy in Bogota.
A senior State Department official said Monday the department was “making preparations to allow for a reopening” of its embassy in Venezuela “should the president make that decision.”
Former diplomats said that a lack of US presence on the ground would pose a challenge to rebuilding and ensuring accountability in Venezuela. President Donald Trump has said he wants to see US oil companies reopen their operations in the country and help with its rebuilding. He said earlier this week the US was “asked” to reopen the embassy but did not provide further details.
The US has seized another oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea, US Southern Command said on Friday.
US troops in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security “launched from the USS Gerald R. Ford and apprehended Motor/Tanker Olina in the Caribbean Sea without incident,” the command said in a social media post.
The Olina tanker was sailing near Venezuela under a Timor-Leste flag, according to Marine Traffic.
It comes after the US seized two Venezuela-linked tankers this week, including a Russian-flagged vessel in the Atlantic Ocean and another tanker in the Caribbean.
The White House said earlier this week that President Donald Trump was “not afraid” to continue seizing sanctioned oil tankers despite concerns that it could ratchet up tensions with Russia and China.
“He’s going to enforce our policy that’s best for the United States of America,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at a press briefing on Wednesday. “That means enforcing the embargo against all dark fleet vessels that are illegally transporting oil.”
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Video shows US seizing sanctioned oil tanker
The US has seized another sanctioned oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea, US Southern Command said on Friday. CNN’s Natasha Bertrand reports.
01:01 • Source: CNN
Video shows US seizing sanctioned oil tanker
01:01
President Donald Trump has no public events today, but he will be meeting with some top administration members and oil executives.
The following are closed to the press, but we’ll update you if we get any more information:
- 11 a.m. ET: Trump meets with Secretary of State Marco Rubio
- 1 p.m. ET: Trump and Vice President JD Vance have lunch
- 2:30 p.m. ET: The president meets with oil and gas company executives
Trump will then head to Palm Beach, Florida, for the weekend.
President Donald Trump is meeting with more than a dozen oil executives at the White House today as part of his effort to convince the energy companies to invest in rebuilding Venezuela’s oil infrastructure.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has been leading the Trump administration’s strategy toward Caracas; Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who has already met with some oil executives this week; and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum will join the president for the meeting, a White House official said.
Among the companies sending representatives to the White House include Chevron, ExxonMobil, Conoco Phillips, Halliburton, Valero, Marathon and Shell, among others.
President Donald Trump said earlier today that he had canceled a “previously expected” second wave of attacks on Venezuela due to the country’s cooperation with the United States.
It comes nearly a week after he ordered a military operation to oust Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who is currently in US custody along with his wife Cilia Flores.
Shortly after that military operation, Trump said in a news conference, “We are ready to stage a second and much larger attack if we need to do so. … We actually assumed that a second wave would be necessary, but now it’s probably not.”
In Friday’s Truth Social post, Trump said the US and Venezuela are “working well together, especially as it pertains to rebuilding, in a much bigger, better, and more modern form, their oil and gas infrastructure.”
Trump went on to say that Venezuela was “releasing large numbers of political prisoners as a sign of ‘Seeking Peace,’” adding, “This is a very important and smart gesture.”
Venezuela began releasing the high-profile prisoners on Thursday, including opposition politicians in an effort to “seek peace,” the acting government said.
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People gather outside El Helicoide prison in Venezuela Thursday night
03:18 • Source: CNN
People gather outside El Helicoide prison in Venezuela Thursday night
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