Shares of US oil companies jump following Trump's intervention in Venezuela

By Bahattin Gonultas and Gokhan Ergocun

BERLIN (AA) - Shares of US oil companies rose in pre-market trading Monday, after US President Donald Trump announced that the US would be involved in Venezuela's oil industry following the military intervention in the country.

In pre-market trading, shares of US oil company Chevron Corp, the only major US oil company operating in Venezuela, rose by as much as 10%.

ConocoPhillips also saw its shares surge by almost 9% and Exxon Mobil Corp saw a jump of more than 3% before the opening bell.

Following the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Trump announced that the US would be “very strongly” involved in the country’s oil industry.

“We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country,” Trump said in a press conference on Saturday.

Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves – an estimated 303 billion barrels.

However, oil production has declined sharply in recent years due to state control of the sector, underinvestment and international sanctions.