US President Donald Trump has announced that the United States has entered into a landmark agreement to gain majority control and management over 65 billion barrels of Venezuela’s proven crude oil reserves. In a post shared on social media, he declared the pact to be “the biggest oil deal in world history”.
The agreement was negotiated through joint discussions involving US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodríguez. This agreement marks a major milestone in Caracas’ political and economic landscape following the removal and arrest of former President Nicolás Maduro in a US military operation nine months ago. The announcement comes at a time when the US administration faces domestic pressure due to rising global energy prices driven by the ongoing war in Iran.
With rising domestic fuel costs and a depleted US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) amid the Iran conflict, the agreement is intended to boost energy supplies and lower long-term gas prices.
Despite its vast oil reserves, infrastructure decay has kept Venezuela’s output at just around 1% of global production. The joint venture and private partnerships aim to mobilize substantial private investment to modernize extraction fields and scale up production capacity.
