Shares of major U.S. companies in the energy sector are sharply higher Monday after President Donald Trump announced plans to take control of Venezuela’s oil industry and said American companies would revitalize it after capturing President Nicolás Maduro.

While the U.S. action is unlikely to have an immediate impact on crude prices given the current glut in the market, it could upend energy markets.

Venezuela’s oil industry is in disrepair after years of neglect and international sanctions. Some oil industry analysts believe that Venezuela could double or triple its current output of about 1.1 million barrels of oil a day and return the nation to historic production levels relatively quickly, others see a much longer road ahead.

“While the Trump administration has suggested large U.S. oil companies will go into Venezuela and spend billions to fix infrastructure, we believe political and other risks along with current relatively low oil prices could prevent this from happening anytime soon,” wrote Neal Dingmann of William Blair. Material change to Venezuelan production will take a lot of time and millions of dollars of infrastructure improvement, he said.

Any investment in Venezuelan energy infrastructure right now would take place in a weakened global energy market. Crude prices in the U.S. are down 20% compared with last year. The price for a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude hasn’t been above $70 since June, and hasn’t touched $80 per barrel since the summer of 2024.

JPMorgan foresees a brief, sharp dip in Venezuelan production, but said recovery is expected to be swift. Production could reach 1.3 million to 1.4 million barrels per day within two years of a political transition.

“With new investments and major institutional reforms, output could potentially expand to 2.5 mbd over the next decade,” JPMorgan wrote.

There’s several factors that could impact Venezuelan production, including how quickly a government transition can take hold and how fast and willing multinational oil companies are to reenter the country, wrote John Freeman of Raymond James.

At the opening bell, shares in the energy sector moved broadly higher, particularly companies with large refinery operations.

Venezuela produces the kind of heavy crude oil that’s needed for diesel fuel, asphalt and other fuels for heavy equipment. Diesel is in short supply around the world because of the sanctions on oil from Venezuela and Russia and because America’s lighter crude oil can’t easily replace it.

Big refiners like Valero, Marathon Petroleum and Phillips 66 rose between 5% and 6% at the opening bell.

Oilfield service companies, those that actually go into the field and do the drilling and upkeep, rose even more sharply. SLB and Halliburton rose between 7% and 8%.

Major oil exploratory companies including ExxonMobil, Chevron and ConocoPhillips rose between 2% and 4%.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday announced that he is issuing a letter of censure to Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona over the lawmaker’s participation in a video that called on troops to resist unlawful orders.

Hegseth said that the censure was “a necessary process step” to proceedings that could result in a demotion from Kelly’s retired rank of captain in the U.S. Navy.

The move comes more than a month after Kelly participated in a video with five other Democratic lawmakers in which they called on troops to defy “illegal orders.” President Donald Trump accused the lawmakers of sedition “punishable by DEATH” in a social media post days later.

In November, Kelly and the other lawmakers — all veterans of the armed services and intelligence community — called on U.S. military members to uphold the Constitution and defy “illegal orders.”

The 90-second video was first posted from Sen. Elissa Slotkin’s X account. In it, the six lawmakers — Slotkin, Kelly and Reps. Jason Crow, Chris Deluzio, Maggie Goodlander and Chrissy Houlahan — speak directly to U.S. service members, whom Slotkin acknowledges are “under enormous stress and pressure right now.”

Afterward, Trump accused them of sedition “punishable by DEATH,” reposting messages from others about the video and amplifying it with his own words.

Kelly, along with some of the other Democrats in the initial video, have sent out fundraising messages based off the Republican president’s reaction to their comments, efforts that have gone toward filling their own campaign coffers and further elevating their national-level profiles.

BEIJING (AP) — China and South Korea’s leaders pledged to boost trade and safeguard regional stability on Monday during a visit to Beijing by the South Korean president that was overshadowed by North Korea’s recent ballistic missile tests.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung met Chinese President Xi Jinping as part of his four-day trip to China — his first since taking office, in June.

As Xi hosted Lee at the imposing Great Hall of the People, the Chinese president stressed the two countries’ “important responsibilities in maintaining regional peace and promoting global development,” according to a readout of their meeting broadcast by state-run CCTV.

Lee spoke about opening “a new chapter in the development of Korea-China relations” during “changing times.”

“The two countries should make joint contributions to promote peace, which is the foundation for prosperity and growth,” Lee said.

The visit comes as China wants to shore up regional support amid rising tensions with Japan. Beijing and South Korea’s ties themselves have fluctuated in recent years, with frictions over South Korea’s hosting of U.S. military troops and armaments.

North Korea launches ballistic missiles ahead of the meeting

Just hours before Lee’s arrival in China, North Korea launched several ballistic missiles into the sea, including, it said, hypersonic missiles, which travel at five times the speed of sound and are extra-difficult to detect and intercept.

The tests came as Pyongyang criticized a U.S. attack on Venezuela that included the removal of its strongman leader Nicolás Maduro.

North Korea, which has long feared the U.S. might seek regime change in Pyongyang, criticized the attack as a wild violation of Venezuela’s sovereignty and an example of the “rogue and brutal nature of the U.S.”

China had also condemned the U.S. attack, which it said violated international law and threatened peace in Latin America.

China is North Korea’s strongest backer and economic lifeline amid U.S. sanctions targeting Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear program.

China’s frictions with Japan also loom over the visit

Lee’s visit also coincided, more broadly, with rising tensions between China and Japan over recent comments by Japan’s new leader that Tokyo could intervene in a potential Chinese attack on Taiwan, the island democracy China claims as its own.

Last week, China staged large-scale military drills around the island for two days to warn against separatist and “external interference” forces.

In his meeting with Lee, Xi mentioned China and Korea’s historical rivalry against Japan, calling on the two countries to “join hands to defend the fruits of victory in World War II and safeguard peace and stability in Northeast Asia.”

Regarding South Korea’s military cooperation with the U.S., Lee said during an interview with CCTV ahead of his trip that it shouldn’t mean that South Korea-China relations should move toward confrontation.

He added that his visit to China aimed to “minimize or eliminate past misunderstandings or contradictions (and) elevate and develop South Korea-China relations to a new stage.”

Agreements in technology, trade and transportation

China and South Korea maintain robust trade ties, with bilateral trade reaching about $273 billion in 2024.

During their meeting, Xi and Lee oversaw the signing of 15 cooperation agreements in areas such as technology, trade, transportation and environmental protection, CCTV reported.

Earlier on Monday, Lee had attended a business forum in Beijing with representatives of major South Korean and Chinese companies, including Samsung, Hyundai, LG and Alibaba Group.

At that meeting, Lee and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng oversaw the signing of agreements in areas such as consumer goods, agriculture, biotechnology and entertainment.

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AP reporter Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul contributed to this report.

ST PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Democrats 2024 candidate for vice president, is ending his bid for a third term as governor amid President Donald Trump’s relentless focus on a fraud investigation into child care programs in the state.

Less than four months after announcing his reelection campaign, Walz said Monday that he could no longer devote the energy necessary to win another term, even as he expressed confidence that he could win.

Walz said in a statement Monday that he “can’t give a political campaign my all” after what he described as an “extraordinarily difficult year for our state.”

“Donald Trump and his allies – in Washington, in St. Paul, and online – want to make our state a colder, meaner place,” Walz said, referring to the Trump administration withholding funds for the programs. “They want to poison our people against each other by attacking our neighbors. And, ultimately, they want to take away much of what makes Minnesota the best place in America to raise a family.”

A person close to Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota said she is considering running for governor. The person, who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Klobuchar has not made a final decision.

Walz is a military veteran and union supporter who helped enact an ambitious Democratic agenda for his state, including sweeping protections for abortion rights and generous aid to families.

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Barrow reported from Atlanta.