Tuesday, January 13, 2026

The oil CEO who stood up to Trump is a follower of the disciplined ‘Exxon way’ and has a history of blunt statements

In today’s CEO Daily: Fortune energy editor Jordan Blum reports on how Exxon got “too cute” in the president’s eyes.
The big story: Fallout from the criminal probe into the Fed.
The markets: Mixed globally, with the South Korea KOSPI continuing its record surge.
Plus: All the news and watercooler chat from Fortune.

Good morning. As President Donald Trump has initiated tariff wars and threatened individual companies, his second term has been marked by pilgrimages of CEOs from Big Tech and beyond to bestow gifts upon POTUS and perform public acts of praise.

Big Oil executives took their turn Friday when they were called to the White House to discuss the prospect of investing billions of dollars in revitalizing the dilapidated Venezuelan industry. But Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods politely poured cold water on Trump’s preferred expediency, calling Venezuela “uninvestable” until a prolonged period of reforms can be enacted.

A clearly miffed Trump on Sunday called Exxon “too cute,” and he said he’s inclined to keep the world’s largest Big Oil giant out of Venezuela.

Woods, an Exxon lifer who succeeded Rex Tillerson as CEO in 2017 when his boss went to work for Trump, is a reserved but strong-spoken chief who has emerged as an unofficial industry spokesman.

Woods is a believer in the famed, disciplined “Exxon way.” He’s always cordial but blunt. He’ll tell you Exxon won’t invest in renewables—Exxon is about molecules, not electrons—and that Exxon shouldn’t be blamed for climate change.

And he’s not going to appease the president by upsetting Exxon shareholders—an ongoing conundrum for the business leaders. Energy analysts said Exxon stock likely would have suffered if Exxon overcommitted to spending billions in Venezuela in its current, uneconomic state. Exxon’s stock ticked down only slightly by 0.5% on Monday—despite Trump’s critical words—and maintained a market cap of about $529 billion.

“There was nobody to say anything, except Darren, and he’s eloquent as heck,” said Jim Wicklund, veteran oil analyst and managing director for PPHB energy investment firm.

Sometimes it comes down to who has the most leverage.

“This is Trump’s problem. There’s no urgency by the industry at all to go back into Venezuela. And there’s almost no inducement other than guaranteeing profitability, which they can’t do,” Wicklund said. “You can sweeten the terms, but the political risk outweighs that variable by a factor of 10.”—Jordan Blum

Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com

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