Trump announces US control over 65bil barrels in Venezuelan oil reserves

President Donald Trump said Friday his administration has reached a huge oil deal with Venezuela that gives the US majority control of 65 billion barrels of proven petroleum reserves.

The deal — which Trump proclaimed as “the biggest oil deal in world history” — will bring nearly US$100 billion in private investment to Venezuela, US secretary of state Marco Rubio said.

Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves. Its government has operated under intense pressure and close scrutiny from the Trump administration since the US ousted and captured long time ruler Nicolas Maduro in January. It allowed his then vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, to stay on and serve as interim leader so long as she toes the US line.

Trump has made no secret of his desire to secure Venezuelan oil for the US, and in his post announcing the deal on his Truth Social platform, he said it will more than double US oil reserves.

There was no immediate confirmation of the arrangement from the Venezuelan government.

Trump said secretary of state Marco Rubio and defence secretary Pete Hegseth had reached the deal with Rodriguez “through a partnership with private business”.

“This Transaction will greatly strengthen the already growing relationship between Venezuela and the United States!” Trump wrote.

Rubio said the deal demonstrated how “President Trump’s bold foreign policy is driving America First wins: securing stable reserves and low-cost oil in our Hemisphere and lowering gas prices here at home”.

“For the Venezuelan people, this deal will bring nearly $100 billion in private investment, support thousands of high-paying jobs, and drive the reconstruction of Venezuela’s economy,” the top US diplomat wrote on X, without providing further details.

The news site Axios reported Thursday the two countries were in talks on a dozen productive oil fields with 90 billion barrels of proven reserves — about a third of Venezuela’s total proven reserves of 300 billion barrels. Axios quoted two US officials.

In return for a US ownership stake, private companies, including American firms, would develop the fields and return more oil revenue to Venezuela, according to Axios.

Axios also said the deal would more than double US oil reserves at a time when the US strategic petroleum reserve is at a 40-year low.

Trump also insisted the deal will lower gasoline prices for Americans — a major issue as his approval ratings fall ahead of November midterm elections after launching a war on Iran that has disrupted global oil supplies.

The Trump administration has been urging US companies to invest in Venezuela, but they remain wary due to dilapidated infrastructure and past appropriation of assets of foreign investors by the government in Caracas.

Chevron, the only US oil company that was still operating in Venezuela when Maduro was ousted, said in July that it had raised its daily crude production to 280,000 barrels and plans to increase output by 50% by the end of 2028.

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