President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he struck a historic oil deal with Venezuela, after wresting power from former Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro in January.
The president said the United States has established “majority” control over more than 65 billion barrels of oil in Venezuela, “at no cost to the American taxpayer.” Trump said the transaction more than doubles U.S. oil reserves, a significant development given that the cost of energy has spiked due to turmoil in the Strait of Hormuz sparked by the president’s war with Iran.
“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 posted on Truth Social.
“This Historic Transaction MORE THAN DOUBLES American Oil Reserves, greatly increases our Oil Supply, and will substantially lower Gas Prices for all Americans, long into the future, while helping to continue to set Venezuela on a course toward Tremendous Success and Great Prosperity,” the president added. “This Transaction will greatly strengthen the already growing relationship between Venezuela and the United States!”
The president’s latest announcement on the sweeping oil deal with Venezuela comes at a critical time for the Republican Party. At roughly two months out from the midterm elections, Democrats have seized on gas prices that have surged due to the Iran war to press affordability issues and make their case for a change of leadership down the ballot in November.
Trump’s new oil deal in Venezuela could push gas prices down in the U.S., giving the GOP a boost. His announcement follows lengthy U.S.-Venezuelan negotiations for a deal that would give U.S. companies long-term access to a group of Venezuelan oilfields and guarantee the resulting crude supply to the United States. In return for giving the U.S. an ownership stake, Venezuela’s government would benefit from private companies, including American firms, developing the fields and returning more oil revenue to that country, according to Axios. Energy Secretary Chris Wright is expected to travel to Venezuela as soon as next week.
In January, the U.S. assumed significant control over Venezuela, which is estimated to have the largest oil reserves in the world, at around 300 billion barrels. At the time, U.S. military forces captured Maduro in order to begin the process of instituting what Washington described as democratic reforms in the country.
Venezuela’s multitrillion-dollar oil industry has long stagnated under Maduro’s leadership and prior socialist governments.
Upon taking over the country at the start of the year, Trump vowed to turn Venezuela’s energy sector around, and administration officials such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio began the process of seeking to privatize the oil industry.
The U.S. completed its first sale of Venezuelan oil, valued at $500 million, days after Maduro’s capture, with officials confirming that the U.S. would continue to sell the country’s oil “indefinitely.”
Trump expressed hope that Venezuelan oil operations would be “up and running” in under 18 months, saying that tapping into Venezuela’s massive energy supply would “keep the price of oil down.” He conceded a “tremendous” investment would be needed by U.S. companies, but promised they would be “reimbursed by us or through revenue.”
TRUMP MEETS WITH OIL EXECUTIVES IN BID TO BOOST US DRILLING IN VENEZUELA
“We’ll run it professionally. We’ll have the greatest oil companies in the world going in and invest billions and billions of dollars and take out money, use that money in Venezuela,” Trump said.
“Instead of the oil being blockaded, as it is right now, we’re gonna let the oil flow … to United States refineries and around the world to bring better oil supplies, but have those sales done by the U.S. government,” Wright added.