Oil giant tells Trump it's 'too expensive' to reinvest in Venezuela despite president's urging

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Independent

Wednesday 11 February 2026 23:54 GMT


The CEO of a major oil company has said that it is “too expensive and too polluting” to return operations to Venezuela, despite the urging of Donald Trump.

TotalEnergies boss Patrick Pouyanne said the company had pulled out of the South American country “because it clashed with our strategy. It was too expensive and too polluting and that is still the case.”

The French multinational energy company left Venezuela in 2022 but, along with others, faced pressure to return from Trump following the U.S. military operations to capture the ousted president Nicolas Maduro on January 3.

Following the high-octane removal of Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores from their home in Caracas, Trump said the U.S. would “run” Venezuela until the country was stable enough for democratic elections. He also urged U.S. energy firms to invest $100 billion to rebuild Venezuela's oil industry, pledging to support them, and claiming that previous problems were “because they didn’t have Trump as a president.”

Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/oil-totalenergies-ceo-trump-venezuela-b2918621.html

[no_hypocrisy]

1. TSF: "You mean I stole the oil of another country for you for nothing?"

[MLWR]

2. And how many millions of taxpayer dollars did TACO squander for that venture

which was supposed to bring HIM tens of billions of Venezuelan petrodollars?

[Lonestarblue]

4. It has brought him millions since he had the military take Venezuelan oil tankers.

He sold the oil and put the money in a bank account in Qatar, which he controls. That money will sit there gaining interest until the end of his term when it will quietly disappear into his pockets.

[NCDem47]

3. Oh, he just thought the $$$ would be rolling in to his account.

He's a billionaire. Invest in yourself DJT if you're so sure of it.

[travelingthrulife]

5. So those 100 Venezuelans were murdered by Trump for absolutely no reason

[peppertree]

7. Then again - it made his Chumpkins feel warm, fuzzy and "patriotic"

Hearing about brown (especially Spanish-speaking) people being brutalized is probably second only to the Jim Beam in their list of favorite things.

[IbogaProject]

12. The "reason" was to cut off Cuba's oil supply

They want to break Cuba, the country with the largest export of health care professionals of all.

[EX500rider]

14. Actually 32 were Cuban security officers...which tells you how popular Maduro was nt

[OldBaldy1701E]

6. "It was too expensive and too polluting..."

Yeah... they are infinitely worried about the first one, but adding the second one is all theater.

They don't give one crap about pollution, unless it affects their properties.

[PatSeg]

8. Trump seems to believe he is living

in a different decade or even a different century. No one wants to put up the money to invest and rebuild the oil industry.

[TBF]

9. He should have talked to people first

and learned what they were willing to do. The prevailing feeling in Houston was that the companies did not want to throw good money after bad.

But Trump doesn't think or consult with others - he thinks he knows everything and just starts barking orders.

[Talitha]

11. Exactly.

[FakeNoose]

10. Chump will look the other way and allow Putin to come in and take the oil

Putin wants the oil in Venezuela, he just can't get bogged down in the war he would have to wage in order to get it.

[IbogaProject]

13. Peak oil

We have had too much oil for decades now, that is why they are always going to war to harm producers and sanctioning places like Iran and Russia. I am aware Russia deserves their sanctions but it is also market manipulation as well. And now it appears global oil consumption has now peaked. Oil use will remain too high for a long while, but now the lack of growth will place pressure on oil producers as our debt based currency and system depends on endless growth. Endless growth for oil producers is over now.