Denver oil companies join Trump talks on Venezuela
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President Donald Trump during a meeting with oil executives in the White House on Friday. Photo: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Top executives from two Denver-area oil companies met with President Trump at the White House on Friday to discuss U.S.-backed oil operations in Venezuela.
Why it matters: If Venezuela's oil sector reopens, local companies — and a Colorado oil executive now heading the U.S. Energy Department — could help shape one of the nation's most aggressive and controversial energy experiments in decades.
The big picture: The meeting with oil execs from more than a dozen companies comes as Trump presses the industry to invest in reviving Venezuela's oil production after U.S. forces captured Nicolás Maduro earlier this month, Axios Energy's Ben Geman reports.
Zoom in: U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, the former CEO of Denver-based fracking company Liberty Energy, is a key architect of the effort.
- Speaking at a Goldman Sachs energy conference in Miami on Wednesday, Wright said the U.S. will control Venezuelan oil sales "indefinitely," adding the administration is "absolutely" considering ways to compensate American companies willing to invest.
Driving the news: Executives from Centennial-based Raisa Energy and Tallgrass Energy, whose operational headquarters are in Lakewood, met with Trump and members of his cabinet, including Wright, on Friday to discuss potential business in Venezuela.
- The Denver-area business leaders signaled interest but stopped short of committing to any major investments.
Between the lines: Those two local companies could offer strategic value to U.S. operations, Luis Zerpa, a petroleum engineering professor at the Colorado School of Mines who previously worked in Venezuela's oil industry, tells Axios Denver.
- Raisa Energy — whose founder and CEO, Luis Rodriguez, is Venezuelan — is an energy investment firm that could partner with companies reentering oil fields, investing without directly running them.
- Tallgrass Energy, a pipeline and infrastructure company, could see an opportunity to rebuild or replace deteriorated systems needed to move oil out of Venezuela.
What they're saying: For companies considering Venezuela, "it's high-risk, but also high-reward," Zerpa says, citing uncertainty around infrastructure, legal frameworks and security.
What we're watching: Whether the White House can offer a regulatory or financial framework that gives Colorado companies enough confidence to move in.
- "You've brought optimism to the table," Rodriguez told Trump during the Friday meeting, "and if the conditions are met, the opportunity is absolutely immense."
Go deeper: U.S. oil giants tell Trump they're noncommittal on Venezuela