US President Donald Trump has announced that the United States has struck a deal to acquire control over more than 65 billion barrels of oil in Venezuela.
The agreement would represent a vast expansion of the United States’ role in Venezuela’s oil sector, as the Trump administration seeks to revive the country’s declining production and secure additional crude supplies for American refineries.
Venezuela holds the world’s largest proven oil reserves, yet currently produces only about 1.25 million barrels per day, far below its potential after years of underinvestment, mismanagement and sanctions.
Trump described the agreement involving US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodríguez as “the largest oil deal in history”.
“This historic deal more than doubles US oil reserves, dramatically increases our oil supply, and will significantly lower gasoline prices for all Americans, while at the same time helping Venezuela continue its path towards tremendous success and great prosperity,” Trump wrote on his social media platform.
According to the Associated Press, the average price of petrol in the United States currently stands at about US$4.09 per gallon, according to the American Automobile Association. The average price during the same period last year was US$3.21.
Rubio said the deal would bring Venezuela nearly US$100 billion in private investment, support thousands of high-paying jobs and help rebuild the country’s economy.
US to Control 55% of New Oil Venture
According to the Financial Times, a White House official said the United States had secured 55 per cent of the “actual production of a new dedicated joint venture, which will become the world’s second-largest private oil company by reserves” after Saudi Aramco.
The official said the joint venture, involving the US government and a private company with experience in Venezuela, would grant 100-year concessions over oilfields containing a combined 63 billion barrels of proven reserves.
The newspaper also quoted a source close to the Venezuelan government as saying that “a significant agreement has been reached establishing the framework for the operational management of between 17 and 21 oilfields, including substantial investment in drilling rigs to increase oil production”.
Rodríguez, for her part, confirmed that an agreement had been reached, describing it as “historic” and saying it would have a “major impact on the revival of our nation”.
She praised the prospect of investments “exceeding US$100 billion and more than US$209 billion in tax revenues for the state”.
Trump’s announcement provided few details about the structure of the agreement, the fields or companies involved, or how the United States would exercise majority control over the reserves.
A list reviewed by Reuters showed that the fields are located in the Orinoco Belt and the Lake Maracaibo region.
The announcement comes around nine months after the US military, acting on Trump’s orders, carried out an operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and transfer him to the United States to face federal charges related to narco-terrorism and drug trafficking.
Criticism Over Legality and Sovereignty
Any agreement is likely to face sharp criticism from Venezuela’s opposition, which has urged the United States to pressure the authorities into holding new elections. Depending on the terms of the deal, it could also raise questions over Rodríguez’s legitimacy.
Ricardo Hausmann, Venezuela’s former planning minister and a current professor at Harvard University, wrote on X that any agreement transferring control of the reserves to the United States would be “a catastrophic failure for all parties involved” because the Venezuelan government “has no legitimacy to enter into this unconstitutional deal”.
Hausmann, who opposes the current government and supports opposition figure María Machado abroad, added: “Venezuelans will not honour this illegitimate deal, and no major US oil company will take it seriously because they know it will not last.”
Separately, US-based Venezuelan economist Francisco Rodríguez said that “handing Venezuela’s oil wealth over to the United States violates the constitution and is not in the interests of the Venezuelan people, particularly if it is done at gunpoint”.
He added that the National Assembly should prevent “this exploitation”.
