At a recent protest in Houston, demonstrators criticized the United States’ involvement in Venezuela.
“I think it’s very obvious that this is really only about oil,” said Caleb Kurowski, an organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, which coordinated the protest.
Ezra Henderson, a Navy veteran at the protest, agreed.
“It’s all about the oil,” he said. “That’s the big part.”
There’s been a renewed focus on the oil industry following the United States’ apprehension of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro last weekend.
President Donald Trump announced this week that Venezuela would give the U.S. up to 50 million barrels of oil.
Venezuela’s state-owned oil firm confirmed that it’s negotiating the sale of its oil to the United States.
The benefits could be mixed for Texas, which is home to many oil companies and has the most refining capacity in the country.
Trump said American companies could tap into Venezuela’s oil resources as his administration works to increase the country’s oil exports to the United States. Trump plans to meet with top oil executives on Friday.
Houston is known as the energy capital of the world. But the impacts could reach other parts of Texas – from the Permian Basin to cities with refineries along the Gulf Coast.
“Texas is well positioned to continue to be the dominant leader that we are in the United States and the world,” Texas Oil & Gas Association president Todd Staples said.
Staples said Texas remains a competitive source of oil production even if Venezuela builds up its oil infrastructure.
That’s in part due to the differences between Texas and Venezuelan oil. While Texas produces light sweet oil, Venezuela is known for its heavy crude.
“Immediately, I think Texas refiners can benefit from the existing production because of the heavy crude that’s produced in Venezuela that’s not produced in Texas,” Staples said.
Rice University professor Mark Jones agrees that refineries in Texas and beyond could benefit.
“Many of the refineries on the Gulf Coast, from Corpus Christi to Lake Charles, were initially designed to refine heavy crude that comes from Venezuela,” he said.
But he said the Permian Basin in West Texas could see a slight negative impact from an increase in Venezuelan oil exports to the United States.
“Where the Permian and Texas more generally will be adversely affected is simply if this drives down overall prices,” he said.
Jones said both oil producers and oil service companies, which manufacture and repair equipment used for oil extraction and transportation, could benefit from the U.S. relaxing sanctions on Venezuela.
“That could only really benefit the Houston area by creating another source of jobs and an area of activities for U.S. companies,” he said.
The ability of oil producers to invest in Venezuela, Jones said, depends on the country’s stability.
He said many Americans are skeptical of the U.S. gaining control over Venezuela’s oil resources.
“If you’re benefiting the U.S. economy, it’s probably to the detriment of someone, potentially Venezuela,” Jones said.
Chevron is the only American oil producer still operating in Venezuela. The company said it’s focused on the safety and wellbeing of its employees and its assets.
International courts have ordered Venezuela to pay billions of dollars to ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil. Those companies, and Chevron, are headquartered in Houston.
University of Houston energy fellow Ed Hirs said oil producers might hesitate to invest in Venezuela because of its debts.
“They’ve already been burned, some of them more than once,” he said. “You know, they’re not going to put good money after bad money.”
ConocoPhillips said in a statement it’s “premature to speculate on any future business activities or investments.”
ExxonMobil did not respond to requests for comment.
Hirs said there’s also no guarantee the U.S. will be able to stabilize Venezuela – comparing U.S. operations there to previous interventions in Iraq and Libya.
“There’s no reason to think that the Trump administration is going to succeed where these others failed,” he said.