Last week, the Trump administration announced a 100-billion-dollar oil deal with Venezuela. But, the challenges to pulling off the deal are huge, according to University of Tulsa energy industry professor Eduardo Pererya (per-RAY-duh).
Pererya says oil companies will be very reluctant to reinvest in Venezuela after former President Hugo Chavez siezed billions in American assets when he nationalized his country's oil industry in the early 2000s. Pererya says, "You cannot fix the uncertainty part. There is no letting Exxon and Conoco to come in, which are two companies that know Venezuelan geology very well and its going to be very hard to convince companies to invest in there."
Dr. Pererya says it will be years before the deal has any efffect on gas prices in the U-S. However, he believes that if the deal is implemented, it will have a major, positive impact on the oil services industry in Oklahoma.