At a news conference on Saturday, US President Donald Trump said Venezuela's oil industry could "make a lot of money" if the US supports it. He added, "We're going to have our very large US oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country." Trump described Venezuela's oil sector as "a total bust" for a long time and said, "They were pumping almost nothing by comparison to what they could have been pumping." Venezuela claims to hold the world’s largest oil reserves with more than 300 billion barrels underground. Despite this, it currently produces just about 1 million barrels a day, roughly 1% of global oil production. Much of its oil is extra heavy, making it costly and polluting to refine. Though the industry has seen some recovery, production remains far below the 2 million barrels a day seen in the early 2010s. The state-run oil company PDVSA struggles with poor capital, outdated equipment, power cuts, and theft. Research firm Energy Aspects described Venezuela's oil fields as suffering from "years of insufficient drilling, dilapidated infrastructure, frequent power cuts and equipment theft." Only Chevron remains as the main Western oil company operating in Venezuela, producing about a quarter of the country's oil. Chevron stayed in the country when others left, betting conditions might improve. About half of Chevron's Venezuelan output is exported to the US. Experts say if US companies gain greater access, they might help revive Venezuela’s oil sector over time. However, this won’t be easy or cheap. Energy Aspects estimates raising production by an extra 500,000 barrels a day would cost around $10 billion and take two years. Larger increases could demand tens of billions more. Trump’s vision for US intervention opens doors for American firms but may also lead to complex challenges in Venezuela’s difficult oil landscape. "It isn't going to be a straightforward proposition," said Richard Bronze, head of geopolitics at Energy Aspects.