The CEO of Repsol, Josu Jon Imaz, told President Donald Trump this Friday that the company is prepared to “invest heavily in Venezuela” and to multiply its crude oil production in the Caribbean country by three, to approximately 135,000 barrels per day.
“We are ready to invest more in Venezuela. Today we produce 45,000 barrels a day, in total, and we are ready to triple this figure in the next three years, investing heavily in the country,” Imaz said in a meeting held at the White House in which Trump, several members of his cabinet and representatives of almost twenty oil companies participated.
The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the future of prospecting and possible investments in the South American country after the deposition of Nicolás Maduro.
“Thank you for opening the door to a better Venezuela,” Imaz told Trump during the meeting, in which he underlined the Spanish oil company’s commitment to investing in the US.
The executive stated that in the last 15 years the company has invested $21 billion in oil and gas operations on US soil, in places such as Texas, Pennsylvania, Alaska or, as Imaz literally said, the “Gulf of America” (the term that Trump and his Government use to refer to the Gulf of Mexico).
“We are in Venezuela, Mr. President, with our partners at Eni, producing the gas that guarantees the stability of half of the electricity supply in Venezuela,” said Imaz, who considered Repsol’s operations as a sample of the oil company’s commitment to the “stability” advocated by the Trump Government.
You may be interested: Trump invites China and Russia to buy Venezuelan crude oil managed by the US
“In addition, we are present on the ground. We have personnel, facilities and technical capabilities,” concluded the manager, who is also former president of the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), in his speech.
In addition to Repsol, representatives from Chevron, Exxon and ConocoPhillips have participated, and American media pointed out that executives from Continental, Halliburton, HKN, Valero, Marathon, Shell, Trafigura, Vitol Americas, Eni, Aspect Holdings, Tallgrass, Raisa Energy and Hilcorp would also be present.
Repsol is the Iberian company that maintains the greatest economic and strategic ties with Venezuela, where it has operated for more than 30 years and where it has mining rights, although most of it remains undeveloped.
Last May, the US Government revoked Repsol’s permits to export crude oil and derivatives from Venezuela, as it did with the Italian company Eni or the US company Global Oil Terminals, the firms that then operated in the Caribbean country together with the US firm Chevron.
With information from EFE
Follow information about the world in our international section
