Talks between the Trump administration and American oil firms over new "opportunities" in Venezuela have already begun, a senior White House official told Anadolu on Monday, just days after the capture of President Nicolas Maduro by US forces.
The official, who discussed the matter on condition of anonymity, confirmed the correspondence has begun and would continue going forward. They did not identify which firms are currently being engaged but said Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Energy Secretary Chris Wright will lead the talks for the administration.
"President (Donald) Trump has said he looks forward to working with America's oil companies on new investments and opportunities in Venezuela," White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
Trump has vowed to assert American control over the country, including its highly coveted oil reserves, and has opened the door to the potential deployment of American forces to the South American nation to do so.
"We're going to have our very large United States oil companies — the biggest anywhere in the world — go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure," he said at a Saturday news conference held at his Mar-a-Lago resort.
After the US detained Maduro, Venezuela's Supreme Court directed Vice President and Oil Minister Delcy Rodriguez to immediately assume the post of acting president.
She was formally sworn in on Monday, saying: "I come with pain for the kidnapping of two heroes that we have as hostages in the United States of North America," referring to Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores, who was also captured during the raid.
Maduro and Flores were captured in an early-morning operation on Saturday by US forces, subsequently flown out of the country and on to New York, where they stood trial in an initial hearing over drug and weapons charges. They pled not guilty to all charges earlier Monday.
