Trump donor Harold Hamm’s oil company announces Venezuela deal

Trump donor Harold Hamm’s oil company Continental Resources announced a deal Wednesday to drill in Venezuela.

Continental signed a memorandum of understanding with Venezuela’s state-run oil company that would allow it to operate in a 126,000 acre-area of the oil-rich Orinoco Belt, according to a press release .

“Continental was built to recognize great resource opportunities and have the conviction to pursue them,” Hamm said in a written statement.

“What this company is doing today builds on that foundation while taking Continental to an entirely new level. I could not be more proud of the company, our people and the future we are building,” he added.

The deal announcement comes on the heels of separate deals announced by the U.S. government and Chevron in Venezuela in recent weeks.

It follows the Trump administration’s incursion into Venezuela earlier this year and capture of leader Nicolás Maduro.

After that invasion, Trump pushed U.S. oil companies to invest in producing oil in the South American nation that’s estimated to have large quantities of oil.

Meanwhile, Hamm donated large amounts of money to Trump’s presidential campaigns. He’s also one of the donors to President Trump’s ballroom project.