President Donald Trump said that if US companies were allowed to re-enter Venezuela's oil industry, the United States would control more than half of the world's total oil production.
Venezuela, which has the world's largest oil reserves, nationalized assets of US companies in the 2000s under socialist President Hugo Chavez.
Trump has cited this "unfair" nationalization as one of the reasons for the collapse of Venezuela's economy. He last week flew current Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from Caracas to New York, accusing him of drug trafficking to the United States.
"We're going to work with Venezuela," Trump said at a meeting with executives from major oil companies like ExxonMobil, Chevron and ConocoPhillips at the White House on Friday.
Trump added, "US companies will have the opportunity to rebuild Venezuela's energy infrastructure and ultimately bring oil production to levels never seen before. When you combine Venezuelan and US oil, we will have 55 percent of the world's oil."
After the meeting, Trump announced that US companies would invest at least $100 billion in Venezuela's oil sector.
However, ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods said that investment in Venezuela is not possible until the regulations and structure of the energy sector are radically changed.
The Venezuelan government has not yet officially allowed US companies to enter, but Delcy Rodriguez, who has taken over as acting president in Maduro's absence, has said they are interested in working with all parties, including the United States, on energy projects.
On the other hand, many Venezuelan officials have described Trump's plan as a ploy to "steal" the country's resources, and have condemned Maduro's removal as a gross violation of the country's sovereignty.
When he appeared in a US court on Monday, Maduro denied the charges brought against him in drug trafficking and weapons cases.
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