Trump Warns: 'We Had a Lot of Oil' In Venezuela And 'We Want It Back'

[AZJonnie]

2. "Not that long ago" e.g. in 2001 Hugo Chavez changed a bunch of rules about foreign involvement in the industry

You can research what the changes were but most importantly the national VZ oil company (that industry was nationalized there in 1975) called PDVSA had to be allowed to control shit (>50% ownership) and make good profits, and their autonomy was reined in by the Chavez regime.

Prior, in the late 80s/90's, much less left-wing (than Chavez) leaders of VZ had offered the oil to international drillers at a steeply reduced price (and an unregulated, globalist-led PDVSA was a big part of cutting those deals).

But eventually anger over these shitty extraction deals in the 1990's (shitty for the common people of the country) was a big part of what swept Chavez into power. Then he took control of PDVSA and told the globalists they would have to renegotiate deals that were better for the PEOPLE.

Note that a lot of these companies got billions back through arbitration in the years that followed. Not as much as they were CLAIMING they lost as result, but they were awarded solid dough, and Venezuela paid it.

These companies also had the option to remain in partnership with PDVSA, they just weren't going to make as MUCH money or have as MUCH control as they'd been contracted for. Most of them cut and run. They also WROTE OFF a shit-ton of their "losses".

In the end, it's probably cost Venezuela a shit-ton of money. Way more than they've made as a result of raising their cut, by losing all these investors. BUT, they still have the oil, so there's that.