{"id":10052,"date":"2026-02-11T14:14:46","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T14:14:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2026\/02\/11\/oil-giant-totalenergies-on-trumps-venezuela-dream-too-expensive-and-too-polluting-cnbc\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T14:14:46","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T14:14:46","slug":"oil-giant-totalenergies-on-trumps-venezuela-dream-too-expensive-and-too-polluting-cnbc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2026\/02\/11\/oil-giant-totalenergies-on-trumps-venezuela-dream-too-expensive-and-too-polluting-cnbc\/","title":{"rendered":"Oil giant TotalEnergies on Trump’s Venezuela dream: \u2018Too expensive and too polluting’ – CNBC"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Patrick Pouyanne, chief executive officer of TotalEnergies SE, during the Conference de Paris, organized by the International Economic Forum of the Americas (IEFA) in Paris, France, on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025.<\/p>\n

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The CEO of French energy major TotalEnergies<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span> said it was “too expensive and too polluting” to return to Venezuela, despite calls from U.S. President Donald Trump<\/a> for Big Oil to invest billions in the country<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The company quit Venezuela in 2022 but the Trump administration has urged oil majors to return since the U.S. military operation to seize the country’s president, Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, on Jan. 3.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Wednesday, TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyann\u00e9 told reporters the company quit the country “because it clashed with our strategy. It was too expensive and too polluting and that is still the case.” The comments were reported by Reuters.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for TotalEnergies was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has called on U.S. energy giants to invest $100 billion<\/a> to rebuild Venezuela’s oil industry.<\/p>\n

Trump has pledged to support American oil companies that invest in Venezuela with government security assistance, saying last month that energy firms previously had problems “because they didn’t have Trump as a president.”<\/p>\n

Venezuela boasts the world’s largest oil reserves but some U.S. oil firms have expressed caution about rushing to re-enter \u2014 including Exxon Mobil<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n