Oil price dips as markets assess impact of Trump’s moves in Venezuela

The price of oil has fallen as investors digested the impact of the US capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, while a former Chevron executive said he is already seeking to raise $2bn (£1.5bn) to invest in oil projects in the country.

Brent crude dropped by 0.7% to $60.33 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.54% to $56.01 a barrel in early trading on Monday, after Donald Trump pledged to unlock Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.

Venezuela only produces about 1% of global oil output, thanks to years of underinvestment, US trade sanctions and a naval blockade. However, the country holds about 17% of global crude oil reserves, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

Trump’s intervention could deepen a supply glut in the market, as the president has pledged that US oil companies will “go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country”.

So far none of the biggest US oil companies have spoken about the president’s claim that they are prepared to spend billions to rebuild the Venezuelan oil industry. However, a former top Chevron executive, Ali Moshiri, has said he is raising $2bn for Venezuelan oil projects.

Moshiri, who was formerly head of Chevron’s Latin American operations, told the Financial Times that his Amos Global Energy Management fund had identified Venezuelan assets and was preparing to make an investment.

“We have been anticipating this breakthrough for a while and our $2bn private placement memorandum is ready to go with several investment targets identified,” he said.

Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, said that a fall in oil prices could be “short lived” as investors assess how long it would take for extra Venezuelan oil to affect the global market.

She said: “The type of investments needed include upgrading old and decaying infrastructure, drilling new oil wells and building more refineries to process Venezuela’s heavy crude oil.

“Optimising resource-rich Venezuela to generate the income needed to turn the country around could take until 2030 and beyond.”

Brooks noted that the country pumped nearly 3.5m barrels a day at its 1998 peak, far exceeding the 1m a day now.

Elsewhere, China’s top financial regulator, the National Financial Regulatory Administration, has asked its policy banks and other big lenders to report their exposure to Venezuela, according to Bloomberg, as the Chinese banking sector prepares for potential shocks.

Despite the geopolitical upheaval over the weekend, the OPEC+ oil group did not signal a shift in strategy at a scheduled update on Sunday. The group, which includes Russia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, agreed to maintain their pause on production increases until at least April.

The price of gold rose by 2% to $4,413.93 on Monday. The metal is considered a traditional safe haven asset, and typically rises during periods of uncertainty. Silver also rose by as much as 3.5%.

Both metals hit record high prices last year, driven by global economic and political uncertainty, as well as expectations around interest rate cuts and large purchases of bullion by central banks.

The price of bitcoin has also been rising on geopolitical uncertainty, ticking up by 1.1% to $92,504 on Monday.

Asian markets were buoyant, posting their strongest start to a year since 2012. The South Korean Kospi index hit a fresh record high, rising by 3%.