Trump Says U.S. to Take Control of 65 Billion Barrels of Venezuelan Oil Reserves Amid High Gas Prices and Shrinking Crude Stockpile
Key Takeaways
- •The U.S. agreement with Venezuela covers control of 65 billion barrels of the country's oil reserves and was negotiated by top American and Venezuelan officials.
- •The deal was announced about nine months after a U.S. military operation captured Venezuela's then-president Nicolás Maduro to face federal narcoterrorism and drug trafficking charges in the United States.
- •The agreement reverses U.S. sanctions policy in place since 2017, which had restricted Venezuela's oil sector and prompted companies like Chevron to scale back operations.
- •Trump faces pressure over gasoline prices as the Iran war continues and U.S. strategic petroleum reserves have dropped by more than 100 million barrels since the start of 2026.
- •Venezuela holds an estimated 303 billion barrels of crude oil, roughly 17% of world supply, but produces only about 1% of global output due to deteriorated infrastructure.
President Donald Trump announced on Friday that the United States has entered into an agreement with Venezuela to take control of 65 billion barrels of the South American country's oil reserves.
In a social media post, Trump said the agreement was negotiated by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodriguez.
"The United States of America has just entered into an Agreement with the Country of Venezuela on, THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY!" Trump wrote.
The deal was announced nearly nine months after the U.S. military, at Trump's direction, carried out an operation to capture Venezuela's president Nicolás Maduro and bring him to the United States to face federal narcoterrorism and drug trafficking charges.
Trump is under mounting pressure to address high gas prices as the war in Iran reaches its six-month milestone with no conclusion in sight. The United States has drawn on its strategic petroleum reserves, which fell below 300 million barrels in early August—down by more than 100 million barrels since the start of 2026.
The agreement marks a sharp reversal from the years of U.S. sanctions policy that preceded it. Washington had progressively tightened restrictions on Venezuela's oil sector beginning in 2017, cutting off the country's access to U.S. markets and prompting American companies including Chevron to scale back or wind down operations there, with the company's status in the country repeatedly revised through shifting licenses and court rulings.
In the days following Maduro's ouster in January, Trump floated the idea of U.S. oil companies returning to Venezuela to tap its oil reserves. Trump has argued that Venezuela stole U.S. oil when former Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez moved decades ago to nationalize hundreds of foreign-owned assets, including those owned by American oil companies.
Venezuela holds one of the largest oil reserves in the world, with an estimated 303 billion barrels of crude oil in the ground—roughly 17% of the world's supply, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Unlike other regions where geologists must search for untapped oil, the reserves beneath Venezuela's soil are largely mapped and known, experts say. Much of that oil is heavy crude from the Orinoco Belt, which historically required blending with lighter diluents and substantial upgrading investment to bring to export markets. However, because of dilapidated infrastructure, the country produces only about 1% of the world's oil—a fraction of its output in the 1990s, before nationalization and years of underinvestment and sanctions drove production down.
Source: Fortune
