Quartz: What it would take for Trump to drag Big Oil back into Venezuela

Eric Smith, professor of practice and associated director of the Tulane Energy Institute, was interviewed by Quartz for a story about the Trump administration's efforts to entice international oil companies to return to Venezuela.

Smaller oil companies may be more willing to enter Venezuela in the short-term. Eric Smith, associate director of the Tulane University Energy Institute, pointed to oil service companies like Halliburton that possess the expertise to fix broken equipment without assuming the risk of owning oil fields in an impoverished country. Halliburton executives have said thy can return to the country once they get a green light from the U.S. government. 

"They have a lot of intellectual capital, but they're not investing in money in the ground," Smith said. "So they have a tendency to be able to work in places where they the oil companies themselves won't go forth."

To read the story in its entirety, visit qz.com:

https://qz.com/venezuela-oil-industry-reform-trump