Venezuela canceled an auction of assets seized from Halliburton Co. after the Trump administration intervened to stop the sale, while President Donald Trump seeks to facilitate the return of American oil companies to the South American country.
U.S. government officials pressured Venezuela’s new leader to cancel auction after Halliburton executive met with Trump and raised the issue with him in January, according to people familiar with the situation, who asked not to be identified because it was a private matter.
The move is expected to pave the way for the Houston-based company’s return to Venezuela, an OPEC producer, as Trump seeks to increase oil production in the South American country, the people said.
“The president and his team are working closely with the interim government to restore Venezuela’s oil industry for the benefit of the American and Venezuelan people,” said White House spokesman Taylor Rogers.
Halliburton, state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela SA and the country’s Information Ministry did not respond to requests for comment.
Halliburton closed its main operations in Venezuela in 2020 after the United States tightened sanctions against the Nicolás Maduro regime. Local workers filed a lawsuit against the company the following year claiming unpaid social benefits.
In December, a Venezuelan court ordered the sale of equipment, including trucks, power plants, forklifts, transporters, loaders, lighting towers and cranes, whose value amounts to almost US$6.6 million, according to an advertisement in a national newspaper.
Days after the Venezuelan court order on the auction, Halliburton filed a lawsuit against Venezuela before the international arbitration tribunal of the World Bank.
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright traveled to Venezuela earlier this month and met with interim president Delcy Rodríguez. “Today we spoke very candidly about the enormous opportunities before us and some of the problems and challenges, and we committed to working together and moving forward to resolve them,” Wright said shortly afterward.
That same week, a Halliburton team visited facilities in the states of Zulia and Monagas, where they maintain assets that are still under their control, people familiar with the matter said.
Halliburton CEO Jeff Miller He said last month that the company was ready to quickly restart work in Venezuela once it obtained approval from the US government and some form of payment protection.
“I am excited about the enormous opportunity that Halliburton represents in Venezuela,” Miller told investors during a conference call. “We can mobilize in a matter of weeks.”
