Trump Announces US Oil Grab in Venezuela: 'Majority' Control of 65BN Barrels

Washington, D.C. – Donald Trump announced Friday a new US oil agreement with Venezuela's interim president Delcy Rodríguez, saying the US will have "majority" control of 65bn barrels of proven oil reserves in what critics are calling a "rapacious" land grab.

The terms of the agreement remain to be seen, but the US president said on his social-media platform that it had been brokered "through a partnership with private business" by his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and defense secretary, Pete Hegseth.

The administration, Trump wrote, has "secured majority U.S. control of more than 65 BILLION BARRELS of proven Oil Reserves in Venezuela, at no cost to the American Taxpayer".

Trump said the agreement would more than double American oil reserves. "This deal is a huge win for both the American and Venezuelan people," Rubio wrote on social media.

Trump's announcement provided few details on the structure of the agreement, the fields or companies involved, or how the US would exercise majority control over the reserves.

Venezuela has an estimated 303bn barrels of proven oil reserves, the world's largest.

Context and Motivation

Since the US captured and removed former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro from power in January, Washington has been trying to secure a stable flow of Venezuelan crude oil for US refineries while promoting American investment into the Opec country's deteriorated energy industry, which produces 1.25m barrels per day of crude.

Trump is under pressure before November's midterm elections over rising gasoline prices, which could be eased through cheaper oil supplies and expanded output. The US also has been looking for solutions to replenish its strategic petroleum reserve, the oil stockpile, including the possibility of crude swaps with US producers.

Reports of Larger Deal

Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump administration was "in advanced talks with Venezuela for the U.S. to take a direct stake in more than a dozen oilfields that house nearly one-third of the country's massive energy reserves". Axios also reported on the negotiations, quoting a US official who claimed the deal would be "massive".

The discussion was reportedly over a US stake in Venezuela's most promising oil-and-gasfields, with some 90bn barrels of proven reserves.

Opposition Outcry

The reports caused unease and anger among members of Venezuela's opposition, who are already up in arms about Trump's failure to bring about genuine political change after capturing Maduro.

"It's a land grab – a massive land grab," said one well-known opposition figure who asked not to be named because of the sensitivities of criticizing the US. "It's revolting because this is not the United States one would have [expected]. This is not the United States of the Marshall plan. This is a rapacious, mafioso United States."

Ricardo Hausmann, an exiled former minister and opposition supporter, wrote on X: "An illegitimate interim government with an illegitimate hydrocarbons law has no legitimacy to strike this unconstitutional deal. It will be a fiasco for all involved."

The economist Francisco Rodríguez urged Venezuela's national assembly to reject what he called a "predatory deal". "Handing over Venezuela's oil wealth to the US contravenes the constitution and is not in the interest of the Venezuelan people – much more when it is done at gunpoint," Rodríguez said.

Historical Parallels

Gregory Brew, an energy historian and Eurasia Group analyst, anticipated "quite a lot of suspicion and rejection of any deal that would hand the United States government effective control over Venezuelan resources".

Brew said the reported deal reminded him of how BP, then the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, controlled the oil resources of Iraq and Iran at the start of the last century.

"From Trump's point of view, the control over oil is something of an end in and of itself. But if you do try to rationalise it, I think US dominance over Venezuelan oil reserves allows the US to regard Venezuelan reserves as its own reserves," he said. "It sounds colonial, because it is."

What's Next

• Deal details: Structure and fields involved
• Legal challenges: Opposition plans to fight the deal
• US midterms: Gas price impact on Trump's political standing
• International reaction: China and Russia response
• Venezuela elections: No date set for presidential vote