Trump, Venezuela and Oil

A statue near Venezuela’s state oil company in Caracas. Credit...Adriana Loureiro Fernandez for The New York TimesA crude awakening

One early sign that things might not go so smoothly for the U.S. in its quest for Venezuelan oil was how American energy companies responded.

In a meeting between oil executives and President Trump this month at the White House, Darren Woods, head of Exxon Mobil, called Venezuela “uninvestable.” Another oil magnate and Trump ally, Harold Hamm, was more diplomatic, but not exactly enthusiastic. Venezuela has “its challenges,” Hamm said.

Trump has made it clear that he wants to move fast. At that meeting, which he called less than a week after U.S. troops captured…