On Friday, President Trump welcomed executives from some of the world’s largest oil companies to the White House — and in classic Trump fashion, his only gripe was that the new ballroom wasn’t finished yet. According to the president, if it had been, they would’ve packed it wall to wall.
Trump announced the confab on his Truth Social account:
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) January 9, 2026
He wrote:
The largest Oil Companies in the World are coming to the White House at 2:30 P.M. Everybody wants to be there. It’s too bad that the Ballroom hasn’t completed because, if it were, it would be PACKED. We apologize to those Oil Companies that we cannot take today, but Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, will see them over the next week. Everyone is in daily contact. 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. Additionally, and perhaps most importantly of all, will be the stoppage of Drugs and Criminals coming into the United States of America. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
A drop in oil prices would be welcome news — up to a point. If prices fall too far, production in certain regions becomes uneconomical and supply naturally tightens. In other words, it’s one of those market problems that tends to correct itself, especially when government finally gets out of the way.
But it’s the response from the US Oil & Gas Association that really caught my attention:
Here is our afternoon take on this WH meeting.
There are 2 "Must haves" for producers to go back into Venezuela.
1 – We need know our crews are not going to get kidnapped.
2- We need to know investment and capital expenditures are going to be safe from seizure by a foreign… https://t.co/cN38evkfFf
— US Oil & Gas Association (@US_OGA) January 9, 2026
It’s a fairly long post, but here is the gist:
Here is our afternoon take on this WH meeting.
There are 2 “Must haves” for producers to go back into Venezuela.
1 – We need know our crews are not going to get kidnapped.
2- We need to know investment and capital expenditures are going to be safe from seizure by a foreign government.
The overwhelming show of force from the US military on last Saturday morning – well, that solves the first problem.
Absolutely, it does – at least while President Trump remains in office. What happens after that largely hinges on the outcome of the 2028 presidential election. If January 2029 ushers in a President JD Vance with Marco Rubio as Vice President, for instance, then that stability may continue. However, if a Democrat were to take the presidency… well, if I were an oil company executive in that scenario, I’d likely start seriously considering the idea of divesting from any assets in Venezuela and making arrangements to pull my staff out.
Here’s of the association’s post:
RE: #2 — I expect that the Administration will put a very interesting set of financing options on the table for US producers that will link Venezuelan investment not to a company’s CapEx budgets – but to the US government’s international project financing mechanisms such as the ExIm bank or other entities designed to reduce exposure to US interests and investments overseas.
Its’s one thing to have a foreign government seize a company’s asset – but seizing an asset that is financed and back by the US government?
Try it and you gonna get another visit in the middle of the night by representatives of the US military.
The same principle applies not just to the midterms but also to the 2028 elections. We need to maintain control, or everything could fall apart. Winning these elections is crucial; otherwise, all our efforts will be in vain. Interestingly, Republicans have a tendency to perform poorly in midterms, and that trend needs to change. We must mobilize to win; otherwise, everything comes to a halt.
It may feel repetitive to keep emphasizing that each upcoming election is the “most important election ever,” but we are at a pivotal moment. We need to sustain this momentum, and the country cannot afford four years of a President Gavin Newsom or Kamala Harris.
One last thing from the association:
This is the Art of the Deal and there’s no one better than the guy who wrote the book.
That is an undeniable truth. We simply have to ensure that the agreement remains intact.
