After President Donald Trump invited oil company CEOs to the White House in a bid to get them to invest in Venezuelan oil extraction, the CEO of one of the biggest oil companies in the world publicly disparaged the South American country’s oil reserves — angering the president in the process. Now, one of Trump’s former advisors is defending the CEO’s position.During a Monday segment on her show “The Source,” CNN host Kaitlan Collins noted that ExxonMobil CEO Darren Wayne Woods called Venezuela “un-investable” when talking about the prospect of drilling for and refining the South American country’s oil reserves. Woods said the current “legal and commercial constructs and frameworks in place” made it virtually impossible for his company to commit billions of dollars to Venezuela.Collins also played remarks from Trump, who bristled when asked about Woods’ take on Venezuela. She observed that Trump has since planned to exclude ExxonMobil from any Venezuelan oil-related projects in the future.”I didn’t like Exxon’s response. You know, we have so many that want it. I’d probably be inclined to keep Exxon out. I didn’t like their response,” he said. “They’re they’re playing too cute.”David Urban – who was an advisor to Trump’s 2016 campaign — agreed with Woods. He told Collins that the company was likely wary of investing significant money and time into Venezuela given the volatile nature of Trump’s recent ouster ofVenezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.”I think Exxon’s CEO is speaking the truth,” Urban said. “… If you’re putting billions of dollars into an economy and a legal system that has no recourse, it’s like investing money in China. You may never get it back out again. And so I think the CEO is speaking the truth.””The laws will change. They’ll have new regime come in. I’m sure things will change. The legal construct will change, become much more friendly for foreign investment, and things will be be able to be put there,” he continued. “But as it stands today, I’m not so sure that other people are going to be running after him to invest money … You’ll see all the big folks kind of sitting it out, waiting to see how the laws change there.”Watch the segment below: – YouTube www.youtube.com
When public credibility fails: a debt default case from Zhejiang
...
Read moreDetails