Dems warn oil companies against Venezuela investment
A group of 13 House Democrats told oil companies to hold off on investing in Venezuela last week, warning that any moves could be rendered invalid after President Donald Trump leaves office.
In letters to 21 oil and oil-field services companies, the Democrats — led by Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.) — laid out the legal case against the Trump administration’s recent military actions in Venezuela, arguing that any investment would be built on shaky legal grounds.
It is the latest attempt by Democrats, who are in the minority in Washington, to push back on the Trump administration’s military operation in Venezuela and subsequent control of the Latin American country’s oil sector.
“Any actions you may be taking with the Trump White House as relates to Venezuelan oil may expose you and your shareholders to significant long-term legal and financial risk,” the lawmakers wrote.
“It is possible that efforts to invalidate any such arrangements might be made by Congress, a subsequent Administration, or a future Venezuelan government, and that participation might present your company with legal and enforcement risk,” they continued.
In the past weeks, the Trump administration has repeatedly asserted their right to temporary control over Venezuela’s oil sector. President Donald Trump has urged oil majors to revamp investment in the country, inviting executives to a widely publicized meeting in the White House on the matter.
Most recently, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the United States was acting as a short-term custodian of Venezuelan oil profits to help the country get back on its feet.
“Our goal is to rope all of this illegal oil into a channel that goes into this account that ultimately goes to the benefit of the Venezuelan people. This is an interim step. This is not the way we want their oil industry to look like in perpetuity,” Rubio testified.
But Casten and the group of Democrats argued that without a legal justification for attacking Venezuela — which they say the Trump administration has yet to provide — any investment by companies in the Venezuelan oil industry carries significant geopolitical risk and could be targeted by creditors.
Among those joining Casten in the series of oil company letters were Natural Resources ranking member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), Financial Services ranking member Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Foreign Affairs ranking member Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.).
“If you think the US will never again be a country of laws, that the international order the US has led the creation of over the past century is no more and it's all Mad Max from here on out, then that's one bet,” Casten wrote in a social media thread accompanying the letters.
“But as members of Congress who love our country, who are fighting to make sure it endures and who are much more likely to be in power when your creditors come calling than Trump and his bad of miscreants are, we wouldn't take that bet,” he continued.
By: Amelia Davidson