Trump to meet with oil executives about Venezuela on Friday

President Donald Trump will meet with executives from major U.S. oil companies on Friday, a White House official told FOX Business.

The planned meeting comes after the president said that oil firms would make significant investments in Venezuela following the special forces raid that apprehended Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro over the weekend.

Chevron is currently the only U.S. oil company operating in Venezuela, while ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil had operations in the country before the regime nationalized their assets.

Leading U.S. oil companies are yet to outline plans for investing in Venezuela or the steps needed to secure those investments to allow oil production to ramp up in the country as it faces an uncertain future.

MADURO'S CAPTURE PUTS CUBA'S VENEUZELAN OIL-DEPENDENT ECONOMY AT RISK

Venezuela's oil output has fallen significantly over the last decade due to the socialist government's mismanagement of the state-owned oil company. 

Data from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) shows that Venezuelan production of crude oil was consistently above 2 million barrels per day from 2005 through 2016, when it began a marked decline – dipping below the 1.5 million barrel threshold in 2018 and falling under 1 million barrels in 2019.

MADURO'S REMOVAL COULD REVERSAL DECADES OF ECONOMIC STRUGGLES FOR VENEZUELANS

President Trump has said the U.S. will be "in charge" of Venezuela following Maduro's removal while a transition to a new government occurs.

Trump on Tuesday said in a social media post that Venezuelan oil will be immediately turned over to the U.S., saying that "Interim Authorities in Venezuela will be turning over between 30 and 50 MILLION Barrels of High Quality, Sanctioned Oil, to the United States of America."

"This Oil will be sold at its Market Price, and that money will be controlled by me, as President of the United States of America, to ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States! I have asked Energy Secretary Chris Wright to execute this plan, immediately. It will be taken by storage ships, and brought directly to unloading docks in the United States," Trump explained.

DEFENSE SPENDING COULD RISE FOLLOWING US ARREST OF VENEZUELA'S MADURO, ANALYST SAYS

Analysts have questioned how quickly oil companies will be able to ramp up oil production in Venezuela, due to a long period of underinvestment in the industry's infrastructure in the country. 

U.S. support and sanctions relief could boost production in the near term, with analysts suggesting output could rise by up to half a million barrels per day in the next two years in a scenario where political stability enables investment by U.S. companies.

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Reuters contributed to this report.