00:00And if we didn't do this, China would have been there and Russia would have been there.
00:03Maybe they both would have been there together.
00:04Operation for the American people. Thank you, sir.
00:06Thank you very much, Marco.
00:09And in Venezuela, as you know, this was a playground for every bad actor in the world.
00:14And now President Trump is taking the genius of a different way to try to solve a 25-year festering problem in Venezuela.
00:22The first phase, of course, is the phase we're in now, which is the stabilization phase.
00:26We did not want to see destabilization in the country.
00:28We're working very cooperatively with the interim authorities there to provide a market for the sale of the wealth of Venezuela in such a way that benefits the people, both of the United States but also the people of Venezuela.
00:40And finally, the third phase, which is the most important of the three, is when the country fully transitions into a normal country that we have strong economic and diplomatic relations with, that is friendly towards the United States, that's not a foothold for our adversaries, that serves our interests, but also the interests of the people.
00:56It will be a country that is wealthy, a country that is prosperous for the people, not for a handful of criminals, but also a country that is supportive of our interests in the region and throughout the world.
01:07And we thank you, Mr. President, and the team you've assembled that have brought us to this point.
01:10A lot of work remains, important work, but this is historic.
01:13For more than a century, Chevron has been a part of Venezuela's past.
01:18We are certainly committed to its present, and we very much look forward, as a proud American company, to help it build a better future.
01:27And so, Mr. President, thank you for your leadership.
01:30A lot of people left.
01:31A lot of big companies left.
01:32Some of the people, many of the people sitting at this table left because of the safety risk and other risks.
01:38But you really, you stuck it out.
01:40I give you credit for that.
01:41Sometimes it was hard.
01:43I remember six months ago, I told you to stay, just stay.
01:47Things are going to happen.
01:48You'll be very happy.
01:49One thing I will tell them and I will tell you that we are open for business.
01:55China can buy all the oil they want from us there or in the United States.
02:02Russia can get all the oil they need from us, and they do like oil, even though they produce a lot of it.
02:09But China and Russia and everybody else is able to go, and we'll be open for business almost immediately.
02:14If we look at the legal and commercial constructs and frameworks in place today in Venezuela, today it's uninvestable.
02:23And so significant changes have to be made to those commercial frameworks, the legal system.
02:28There has to be durable investment protections, and there has to be a change to the hydrocarbon laws in the country.
02:35For us, we haven't been in the country for almost 20 years.
02:37We think it's absolutely critical in the short term that we get a technical team in place to assess the current state of the industry and the assets to understand what would be involved to help the people of Venezuela get production back on the market.
02:52With the invitation of the Venezuelan government and with appropriate security guarantees, we are ready to put a team on the ground there.
02:59How long would it take you to get in there and get started?
03:02The first step, this technical team, we, as I talked with Secretary Wright earlier this week, we started from the beginning to put the team together so that if and when it was needed, we could hit the ground almost immediately so we can hit the ground within the next couple of weeks.
03:18As we think about the other people that need to be in this room and in this discussion are the banks, and including probably the Ex-Im Bank.
03:24As we think about how the debt needs to be restructured and the financing to deliver the billions of dollars that are required to restore their energy infrastructure, we need to be also thinking about even restructuring the entire Venezuelan energy system, including Petit Vesa.
03:41And I think if we can do that and think bold, there's an opportunity to be quick, fast, and restore the quality of what's happened in Venezuela, or what's been lost in Venezuela over the course of the last 25 years.
03:55Did you provide any security guarantees so that they can do their work safely in Venezuela?
04:02And separately, Mr. President, I'm curious in terms of the future of Venezuela.
04:10Do you see Venezuela now led by Delce Rodriguez as an ally of the U.S.?
04:16Is that the way that you view that country right now?
04:18Well, right now, they seem to be an ally, and I think it'll continue to be an ally.
04:22And we don't have one.
04:23I will be meeting with various representatives of Venezuela, probably pretty soon.
04:28We haven't set that up.
04:30But the relationship that we have with the people that are currently running Venezuela is very good.
04:35I mean, you should get the Nobel Prize for every war you set.
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