Trump’s Venezuelan oil rush is doomed from the start

In wake of U.S. forces abducting Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, President Donald Trump has bullishly predicted that American oil companies will eagerly rush to fill the fossil fuel vacuum, set up the necessary extraction infrastructure within 15 months, and start making “a lot of money.” Industry leaders and experts are far less confident. Nor are they unified in opinion or approach: while some companies have remained coy about their thinking, several economists assert that no oil rush is forthcoming — unless Trump starts pressuring them to go. When reached for comment, a spokesperson for Texas-based oil and gas company ConocoPhillips…