The costs of forcing Caracas to hold free elections are too high for Washington now. President Trump is fuming at Chevron and Exxon Mobil for “making too much money” during his Iran war.

Wait until he figures out that seven months after he hosted Big Oil at the White House, asking for some $100 billion in new investments in Venezuela, the country is reported to have the same number of active drilling rigs it had this time last year: two.

Drilling rigs are a measure of investor confidence. In 1997-98, when Venezuelan production reached nearly 3.4 million barrels a day, there were some 119 active drilling rigs in the country. Even if a Reuters story is correct and 14 rigs in storage could soon return to the field, Venezuela is a long way from the oil boom the administration forecasts.