U.S. President Donald Trump has said that he is “inclined” to keep ExxonMobil out of Venezuela after its top executive described conditions in the South American nation as “uninvestable”.

Mr. Trump chaired a meeting in the White House on Friday (January 9, 2026) with oil and gas executives to discuss plans for the Venezuelan oil reserves in the wake of the ouster of former President Nicolás Maduro.

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“No, I didn’t like Exxon’s response. You know, we have so many that want it, and I’d probably be inclined to keep Exxon out. I didn’t like their response. They’re playing too cute,” Mr. Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Washington D.C. from Florida.

At the meeting, ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods called the conditions in Venezuela as “uninvestable”. “If we look at the legal and commercial constructs and frameworks in place today in Venezuela today, it’s uninvestable, and so significant changes have to be made to those commercial frameworks, the legal system. There has to be durable investment protections, and there has to be a change to the hydrocarbon laws in the country,” Mr. Woods said.

Mr. Woods had then expressed confidence that with the Trump administration and President Trump working hand in hand with the Venezuelan Government, “that those changes can be put in place.”

Mr. Woods added that in the short term, “there are things that can be done while these longer-term issues are being worked (out). We haven’t been in the country for almost 20 years.”

“We think it’s absolutely critical in the short term that we get a technical team in place to assess the current state of the industry and the assets to understand what would be involved to help the people of Venezuela get production back on the market. With the invitation of the Venezuelan Government and with appropriate security guarantees, we are ready to put a team on the ground there,” he said.

Several other executives at the meeting expressed similar reluctance, warning that the industry would first need to secure extensive security and financial guarantees before beginning a year-long effort to ramp up oil production, CNN reported.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday (January 11, 2026) suggested ‍Cuba should strike a deal with Washington, warning that ​the island nation would no longer ‌receive oil or money from Venezuela.

Venezuela is ​Cuba’s biggest oil supplier, but since the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by U.S. forces, Mr. Trump has successfully pressed interim President Delcy Rodriguez to send Venezuelan oil to the United States.

“THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR ​MONEY GOING TO CUBA – ZERO! I strongly ⁠suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE,” Mr. Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social ​on Sunday (January 11, 2026).

“Cuba lived, ⁠for many years, on large amounts of OIL and MONEY from Venezuela,” Mr. Trump said. U.S. intelligence has painted a grim picture of Cuba’s ‌economic and political situation, but its assessments offer ‌no clear support for Mr. Trump’s prediction that the island is “ready to fall,” Reuters reported ‍on Saturday (January 10, 2026), citing three people familiar with the confidential assessments.

The CIA’s view is that key ‍sectors of the Cuban economy, such as agriculture and tourism, are severely strained by frequent blackouts, trade sanctions and other problems. The potential loss of oil imports and other support from Venezuela, for decades a key ally, could make governing more difficult for the administration that has ruled Cuba ⁠since Fidel Castro led a revolution in 1959.

For Cuba, the loss of Venezuelan ​oil is devastating. Between January and November of last ⁠year, Venezuela sent an average of 27,000 barrels per day (bpd) to the island, covering roughly 50% of Cuba’s oil deficit, according to shipping data and documents from Venezuelan state ⁠oil company PDVSA.