MIAMI – Venezuela's socialist government tried to recruit then-Congressman Pete Sessions to broker a meeting with the CEO of Exxon Mobil at the same time it was secretly paying a close former House colleague $50 million to keep U.S.
sanctions at bay, The Associated Press has learned. An official at state-run oil giant PDVSA sent an email to the Texas Republican on June 8, 2017 seeking his help arranging a meeting between Venezuela's oil minister and Darren Woods, then Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's successor at the helm of the Irving, Texas-based Exxon.
The purpose: to lure Exxon back to Venezuela after a decade's absence and inject much-needed dynamism into the OPEC nation's collapsing oil industry.The email, which was seen by the AP,.