The United States may subsidize ‍oil ‍companies to enable ⁠them to rebuild Venezuela's energy infrastructure, ​President Donald Trump ‍said in an interview ⁠with NBC News on Monday.

Trump ⁠told ​NBC ⁠that such ‍a project could ‌take less than ⁠18 months. 

“I think we can do it in less time than that, but it’ll be a lot of money,” Trump told NBC. “A tremendous amount of money will have to be spent and the oil companies will spend it, and then they’ll get reimbursed by us or through revenue.”

When asked whether he had spoken with top executives at Exxon Mobil, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips, Trump said it was “too soon” to say, adding, “I speak to everybody.”

Trump did not specify how much it would cost to rebuild and expand Venezuela’s oil infrastructure, telling NBC News only that “a very substantial amount of money will be spent.”

Newsmax contributed to this report.