MW He was in the room for Trump's Venezuela pitch. Now this American oilman says he's ready to start drilling.
By Claudia Assis
Alex Cranberg, a self-described wildcatter, says he wants U.S. companies to be 'bold but smart' in the region
Aspect Holdings founder Alex Cranberg attended the White House meeting with oil executives on Friday.
Alex Cranberg had a seat at the table last week as President Donald Trump pitched his vision for Venezuela to oil executives. As a self-described wildcatter, or an oil driller who takes risks in new places, Cranberg believes that a pioneering mindset is just what the South American country needs.
Cranberg's vision for oil wealth in Venezuela, which he shares with the president, has skeptics wary, however. Some experts say there are too many things up in the air to make Venezuela a compelling opportunity, at least in the short term.
Those include the political fallout in the country following the raid that landed President Nicolás Maduro in U.S. custody; uncertainty around lower oil prices; and the roles, if any, that major U.S. oil companies would be willing to play.
Still, it's not surprising that Cranberg, the chair of Aspect Holdings and a longtime donor to mostly Republican candidates and causes, is hewing very close to the president's ambitions. MarketWatch talked to Cranberg about Trump's aspirations for Venezuela's oil industry.
A 'rare' inflection point
According to Cranberg, this is a "rare" inflection point for Venezuela as well as for U.S. energy leadership in the Western Hemisphere. Such moments, he said, never arrive under perfect conditions.
"Investors and governments either engage early and help shape outcomes, or they arrive later on someone else's terms," he said.
Cranberg agrees with Trump's position that if the U.S. doesn't partner with Venezuela, then China, Iran and Russia will. He urged U.S. companies to take "bold but smart" risks in the South American country in order to reap the rewards, rather than waiting for "circumstances that would never fully align."
But what is opportunity to one oilman is "uninvestable" to another. Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods caught flak from Trump over the weekend for using that word to describe Venezuela at the Friday meeting.
Woods called for changes to Venezuela's laws governing oil and gas, for starters, although he said that Exxon could have a team of experts assessing the situation within weeks.
Exxon (XOM) and ConocoPhillips $(COP)$ left the country in the mid-2000s after their assets were expropriated under then-President Hugo Chávez and later Maduro. The companies had also struggled in the 1970s after Venezuela created its state-owned oil company. Chevron $(CVX)$ is the only major American oil company that has remained in the country.
"A high level of what I call 'can-do realism' is warranted," Cranberg said. "Venezuela presents real political, contractual and operational risks - but none of them are unprecedented."
Such risks could be reduced with support in both the U.S. and Venezuela, though they will never be completely eliminated, he said, adding that serious investors understand that distinction: "We intend to be part of the problem-solving, not passive observers."
Aspect Holdings, with headquarters in Colorado, has operations in the U.S., Central Europe, Latin America and the Middle East, and during the meeting with Trump, Cranberg highlighted the company's experience in Iraq's Kurdish region.
After the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, hopes ran high that Iraq's oil production would get a big boost. While the country's production grew, however, it is likely to never achieve the "oil heyday it had hoped for," according to one assessment.
Smaller independent oil companies such as Cranberg's have what it takes to help Venezuela's oil industry reach its potential, he asserted.
"Independents are pioneers and kickstarters. We're nimble, willing to take early risk and experienced at restoring output from mature fields - which still account for most of Venezuela's current production," he said.
Historically, independents first de-risk geology and operations of an oil field, and their work creates a bridge for larger companies once uncertainty has been reduced. They also bring experience in the early stages of unconventional fields and offshore projects, where discipline and speed matter, Cranberg said.
A 'wildcatter' mindset
"That wildcatter ethos" - a willingness to invest millions of dollars in projects with uncertain outcomes - "is exactly what's needed," Cranberg said. "In that sense, Venezuela today has a higher probability of success than many frontier exploration plays, because the resources are well-known."
The term "wildcatter" dates to the late 19th century and usually refers to entrepreneurs seeking oil in U.S. areas not known to be oil producers, such as Texas and Oklahoma in the first half of the 20th century. At the meeting on Friday, according to Cranberg, Trump asked him if he was a wildcatter and said that he too could have been one.
"The risks are largely political rather than geological, and managing that kind of risk is something we've done for over three decades. Survival in this business requires both discipline and a willingness to be bold," Cranberg said.
Unlike some experts, Cranberg believes that an investment in Venezuela's oil projects would make sense even with U.S.-traded crude below $40, as long as the right fiscal and contractual frameworks are in place.
"Oil can be a lubricant for positive change in Venezuela, rather than a source only of subsidies that entrench failure and instability," he said.
Don't miss: Trump wants oil at $50. He thinks Venezuela can help - but oil drillers might not go along
-Claudia Assis
This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 14, 2026 11:57 ET (16:57 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
