Trump said American oil companies would be allowed to tap Venezuela’s vast crude reserves after a US military operation led to the capture of President Nicolás Maduro.
US President
Donald Trump said American oil companies would be permitted to enter
Venezuela and tap its vast crude reserves following a US military operation that led to the capture of President Nicolas Maduro. The remarks came after US forces carried out air strikes in the Venezuelan capital and removed the country’s leadership from power.
The US military conducted a series of air strikes on Caracas early on Saturday. Maduro and his wife were captured during the operation and flown to New York City, where they face drug-trafficking and weapons charges.
Trump outlines role for US oil companies
Speaking at a news conference in Florida, Trump said US energy firms would play a central role in rebuilding Venezuela’s oil sector.
“We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country,” Trump said.
At the same time, he made clear that existing restrictions remain in place, stating that “the embargo on all Venezuelan oil remains in full effect.”
Sanctions and oil output under strain
Washington imposed economic sanctions on Venezuela in 2017, followed by oil sanctions two years later. Venezuela currently produces just under a million barrels of crude a day, according to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), with most of it sold on the black market at steep discounts.
Trump has claimed that Caracas uses oil revenues to finance “drug terrorism, human trafficking, murder and kidnapping.”
Licences revoked, Chevron exemption remains
At the start of his second term in 2025, Trump ended licences that had allowed multinational oil and gas companies to operate in Venezuela despite sanctions. US company Chevron was the only firm granted an exemption.
Chevron operates four oil fields in Venezuela in partnership with state-owned PDVSA and its affiliates. Washington has also imposed a total blockade on sanctioned tankers travelling to and from Venezuela.
Vast reserves but limited production
Venezuela holds about 17 per cent of the world’s oil reserves, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA) in 2023. However, it is no longer a leading producer after years of mismanagement and corruption.
Venezuelan oil is of lower quality and is mainly refined into diesel or byproducts such as asphalt rather than gasoline. The United States has refineries around the Gulf of Mexico specifically designed to process it.
“The United States is doing just fine without Venezuelan oil,” Stephen Schork, an analyst at consulting firm the Schork Group, told AFP last month, citing political reasons.
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