CERAWEEK-Exxon says its team is in Venezuela evaluating oil opportunities

By Sheila Dang

HOUSTON, March 25 (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil XOM.N has a team in Venezuela this week evaluating the country's oil and gas resources and infrastructure, upstream head Dan Ammann said Wednesday at the CERAWeek by S&P Global conference in Houston.

In January, Exxon CEO Darren Woods called Venezuela "uninvestable" without durable protections for new investment, comments that landed him in hot water with U.S. President Donald Trump. The top U.S. oil producer exited Venezuela in 2007 after its assets were expropriated.

"What we're looking to assess is the state of the resource that's there, but more importantly, what's the state of the infrastructure on the ground?" Ammann said.

There are short-term actions that can be taken to incrementally increase oil production, he said, but fully rebuilding Venezuela's oil industry would likely take a long time and cost hundreds of billions of dollars.

Venezuela's oil output has dwindled due to underinvestment in the OPEC member nation that once produced 3 million barrels per day.