5 things to know about Venezuela's oil industry, US involvement
2. Most US oil companies left Venezuela after nationalization
Venezuela nationalized its oil industry in 1976 as part of former Venezuelan President Carlos Andrés Pérez's "La Gran Venezuela" economic plan, which established the state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA).
Major foreign oil companies, such as Exxon and Mobil, which later merged, Gulf Oil and Shell were compensated approximately $1 billion each at the time, despite losing around $5 billion in assets. Foreign companies were at first prohibited from direct control but later allowed back under contracts in the 1990s.
In 2007, the Venezuelan government under Hugo Chávez seized assets from U.S. oil companies — primarily ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips — after they refused to agree to new terms giving PDVSA majority control of the natural gas industry. The companies have billions in outstanding claims against the Venezuelan government.
Trump has described Venezuela's oil nationalization as "one of the largest thefts of American property in the history of our country."
"The oil companies are going to go in, they're going to spend money, we're going to take back the oil that, frankly, we should have taken back a long time ago," he said.
