Venezuela Tests Big Oil’s Wall Street-Backed Spending Discipline

Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. must walk a fine line when they kick off Big Oil earnings season Friday, balancing Wall Street’s push for spending discipline and President Donald Trump’s call to invest $100 billion in Venezuela.

The White House is pushing hard for companies to rebuild Venezuela’s shattered oil industry. But overspending there risks undermining plans by the five western oil majors — which also include Shell Plc, TotalEnergies SE and BP Plc — to buy back $30 billion of stock this year, a strategy that’s attracted investors even as crude hovers near a four-year low.