President Trump announced a deal Friday to grant the United States majority control of over 60 billion barrels of proven Venezuelan oil reserves — as the Trump administration angles to get oil companies to return to the country after a U.S. military operation replaced the country’s leadership earlier this year.
Mr. Trump said in a social media post the deal was made “at no cost to the American Taxpayer” and was struck “through a partnership with private business.”
A U.S. official told CBS News that interim Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez granted a private joint venture a 100-year concession to operate in oil fields that make up 63 billion barrels of petroleum. The venture is a “joint project of the U.S. government and an experienced private operator in Venezuela.”
The U.S. government will control 55% of the joint venture, split between equity in the venture and the ability to obtain oil from it at cost, the official said.
The official described the venture as the world’s second-largest corporate owner of proven oil reserves, after Saudi Aramco. It’s not clear which private companies will be involved in the venture, but only a handful of foreign oil and gas companies have maintained a presence in Venezuela, including U.S.-based Chevron, Spain-based Repsol and Italy-based Eni.
“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 wrote on Truth Social.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on social media the deal will “bring nearly $100 billion in private investment, support thousands of high-paying jobs, and drive the reconstruction of Venezuela’s economy.”
The deal marks the Trump administration’s latest effort to lure oil investment to the South American country, as it seeks to push down oil prices — though expanding production in Venezuela could be a longer-term endeavor.
Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves, at just over 300 billion barrels, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. By comparison, the U.S. has less than 50 billion barrels.
But the country’s oil industry has long struggled with underinvestment, decrepit infrastructure and tight sanctions. And many major oil companies — like ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil — left Venezuela when former President Hugo Chávez nationalized their assets almost two decades ago, leaving them wary of doing business in the country. Chevron was the only major U.S. company to maintain its presence in Venezuela.
In January, U.S. military forces captured Chávez’s successor, Nicolás Maduro, causing former Vice President Rodriguez to assume power. Rodriguez and the Trump administration have sought to cooperate, including on energy.
Since then, Mr. Trump has encouraged American companies to reenter Venezuela, meeting with executives of major oil and gas firms to pitch them on the country’s vast oil reserves. The U.S. Treasury Department has eased sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry, and Rodriguez signed legislation that allows private companies to manage oil extraction.
Some firms have expressed interest, with the independent Hunt Oil Company reportedly inking a deal earlier this month with the state-run Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A.
Others have expressed some hesitation, pointing to the fraught history of Venezuela’s oil industry. During a White House event earlier this year, ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods said “there’s an opportunity in Venezuela,” but he called the country “uninvestable” until changes are made to the country’s legal and economic system. He noted that ExxonMobil’s assets in Venezuela were subjected to two different waves of nationalization in the 1970s and 2000s.
“We’ve had our assets seized there twice,” Woods said in January, before Venezuela passed its oil industry reforms. “To reenter a third time would require some pretty significant changes from what we’ve historically seen here and what is currently the state.”
