Oil companies had a fascinating response to President Donald Trump, who asked executives in said oil companies if they have any interest in returning to Venezuela once Nicolas Maduro is ousted in a regime change war. [00:00:15] And so far, the answer is a hard no. That's what Politico is reporting, and I am super shocked by that. Jake, what are your $0.02? Yeah, it's definitely surprising because Venezuela appeared to be picked first [00:00:31] because it has the largest oil reserve in the world, and we almost always attack countries with large oil reserves. But I think that there is I have a different theory on why we're going there and it might surprise you. So let's find out why it might not be the oil companies, [00:00:48] and then talk about why we might be going to war with Venezuela anyway. So the answer that Trump received, which I'm sure he didn't like from these oil industry executives, is likely due to the current oil markets. Right. [00:01:03] The fact that the oil supply has been increased, which means more supply prices come down. So the US benchmark oil price was around $56 a barrel as of Wednesday afternoon. And that's actually the lowest it's been since January of 2021. [00:01:21] Here in California, we're not feeling the, you know, the relief because they taxed the crap out of gas here. And we're still paying like at least 450 a gallon if you're lucky. But anyway, this has given Trump some wiggle room to attack Venezuela [00:01:37] without too much concern about oil prices being impacted to a point where things are unaffordable. So he's like, all right, I got some wiggle room. But the increased supply is also having the opposite effect [00:01:53] on these oil companies. Those prices are also very way too low to entice companies to take the risk of pouring huge investments into the crumbling Venezuelan oil facilities that former strongman Hugo Chavez seized decades ago. Industry officials and analysts said. [00:02:11] And I want to just quickly correct something that I said on the show yesterday. You know, Trump said something about how Venezuela stole our oil. And I'm like, what? What does it even mean by that? I think he's referring to what Chavez had done under his leadership. [00:02:26] And so, US oil companies have better investment options elsewhere, according to one person who's familiar with the discussions. And then two people familiar with Trump's efforts say that the administration has only recently started initiating the outreach to the industry. [00:02:42] It's not as straightforward to convince companies to risk capital in an uncertain political environment. One of those people said, now, I've got more details on Trump's conversations with these oil executives. So, for instance, Evenen, Anon Romero, who is a former executive [00:03:01] at the Venezuelan state owned oil company known as Petroleos de Venezuela, now works as a consultant in Houston and is actually part of this opposition effort against Maduro. Right. So in late November, the Trump administration met with Exxon, [00:03:20] ConocoPhillips and representatives of the Venezuelan opposition group to which Romero belongs, although he wasn't at this particular meeting. The meeting was led by the Energy Secretary, Chris Wright. And the discussion centered on the possibility of the two oil majors [00:03:37] returning to Venezuela right now, Romero said Exxon and ConocoPhillips aired concerns about the debt they are owed from their past Venezuela operations, and the Venezuela representatives floated the opportunity to take control of additional fields to compensate for the debt. [00:03:55] So what does that mean? So US oil companies were actually operating in Venezuela. Chevron still does. Chevron has some sort of deal with Venezuela and apparently they're happy with it. It's working out for them. But other oil companies were also operating out of Venezuela previously. This is like in the early 2000, when Hugo Chavez suddenly decided [00:04:14] to force them to give majority stakes of their projects to the, you know, Petroleos de Venezuela, to the state. Essentially, he wanted to nationalize the oil. So Venezuela ended up seizing the assets of companies that resisted. And that's the debt that these oil companies are referring to. [00:04:32] Now. Again, Chevron has been the sole major oil company to continue working in Venezuela, operating under a special license to produce oil in the country and then export it to the United States. But Romero said that right again, writes the energy secretary, encouraged the companies, quote, to get an understanding and solve their [00:04:51] outstanding problems along the way. End quote, but made clear this is an important part of the story. Made clear the Trump administration would like to see more Venezuelan crude flowing to U.S. Refineries. I thought that was an interesting part of the story because Trump very recently [00:05:08] trashed the oil in Venezuela. It's like, it's nasty oil. We don't want that oil. It's like, is it, though? Finally, Romero says, we need those barrels. That's an important message from the government. [00:05:24] So so a couple of thoughts on this. So first off, you know, the oil companies oftentimes get, outrageous deals with these countries. Why? Because they threaten to have, America invade them if they don't. [00:05:42] So that has a long history. In the 1950s, we deposed the leader of Iran because he wanted the Iranian people to have a larger share of oil profits. And so the oil companies forced Britain and America to get rid of them, and that's [00:05:59] what eventually led to the Ayatollah. So it's possible that Hugo Chavez was saying, yeah, but it's our oil and we're paying you way too much. And the Venezuelan people should keep more of it. Now, if they had a previous deal and they should honor that deal. Okay, fine. Right. [00:06:14] But in terms of a country deciding what to do with its own natural resources, that's not theft. No. You're taking their natural resources. At the point of a gun at at lower prices is theft. [00:06:30] So I got no love for Hugo Chavez, but but that's that is very far from theft. When you actually control your own natural resources in terms of the oil companies. They've got two different conflicting things here. One is sometimes oil prices are so low that it's not worth drilling anywhere, [00:06:49] let alone riskier places. Right. And risk could be for a number of different reasons, including what type of oil it is and and that makes it more expensive to drill in those places. Right. And but when you start a war with an oil rich country, usually because [00:07:05] of that instability, oil prices go up. So I'm still surprised that they wouldn't want it. So which but apparently, if this story is to be believed and I could see why they wouldn't. Right. For the reasons that I just gave you, there are many circumstances in which [00:07:21] it might not be profitable for them. Well, then we've got to pick a new reason why we're going to war with Venezuela. If that's not it. Don't forget Noble Mobil saving you a ton of money. So a lot of people are signing up now and beginning to realize what the hell, why am I paying so much to Verizon and AT&T? [00:07:36] So your bills only $50 a month, but it can actually be less because they give you money back if you don't use your data. So if you're paying more than $50, there's no reason to not switch. It's crazy not to switch because same phone, same number, same contacts. Literally nothing changes. Titcomb. [00:07:52] Slash. Switch. Titcomb. Switch. All right, we'll be right back. Right. And, you know, I genuinely do think that for someone like Marco Rubio, a Cuban American, it's deeply ideological. And, you know, Cubans are not organized the way Zionists are. [00:08:12] So, but but honestly, the Cuban refugees who came here in the late 50s are just as zealous as the Zionists are about their own political project. So I do think it's ideological for Marco Rubio and for for Trump. Obviously, he personally is motivated by the oil. [00:08:31] But, you know, I don't begrudge the oil executives for actually being smart and remembering, hey, Venezuela burned us before. Are we really going to take that risk again? So we'll see how this plays out. But I am curious if these meetings and these discussions [00:08:47] may be motivated Trump to avoid talking about going to war with Venezuela during his address to the nation. - So. Yeah. - And for for my point of view. Look, normally this would be mainly about the oil. Now, this is the second big clue we've had that it might not be in this case. [00:09:06] We shared a previous story before about it as well, so that, and it's usually a confluence of factors that leads to a dramatically wrong decision like this. And defense contractors always get rich from war. Of course. Israel apparently has an interest in this because they claim Venezuela [00:09:24] and Hezbollah and Hamas are working on drones together, so they want them destroyed and smashed to pieces. Is that a large factor? Probably just because of the overwhelming power they have. But my best guess is this is driven by Rubio. And and you're right, Anna, if there's any second group in the country [00:09:43] that's as zealous as the pro-Israel folks, it's the Cubans. Yeah. And, and you can't talk him out of it. And they and anything but annihilating the Cuban government is unacceptable to them. Anything other than that, right. [00:10:00] And I disagree with them wholeheartedly on this. I don't think that the US should be dragged into a war with Venezuela in order to eventually lead to the toppling of, you know, the communist regime in Cuba. I think that's ridiculous. It doesn't mean I hate Cubans. In fact, I have quite a lot of admiration for Cubans. [00:10:17] - So just keep that in mind. - Yeah, yeah. And it looks so. It's so easy, right? Anna's husband's Cuban, and, we all have Cuban friends who would hate Cubans. What a weird thing to be, right? But does that mean we have to agree with them that we need to go topple [00:10:33] the Venezuelan government so we can topple topple the Cuban government? And if we don't agree, are we anti-cuban? No, of course not. The only ones who use that trick are the Israelis. Exactly. Every time you ring the bell below, an angel gets its wings. Totally not true, but it does keep you updated on our live shows.