Trump announces deal giving US control of 1/5 of Venezuela’s oil reserves – National & International News
Trump announces deal for US to control 1/5 of Venezuela’s oil reserves
In a Truth Social post on Friday, President Trump announced a deal for the the US to take majority control of about 65 billion barrels of Venezuela’s oil reserves. This represents about 1/5 of Venezuela’s total proven oil reserves. In the post, Trump called this “THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY” and promised it would “substantially lower Gas Prices for all Americans, long into the future”. With the help of private partnership, Venezuela will receive about $1oo billion in investment.
The promise of “substantially lower Gas Prices” is certainly appealing at a time when Americans are facing higher gas prices as a result of the US-Israeli war on Iran. However, the promise comes with several caveats. Firstly, the 65 billion barrels of oil is in the ground and must be extracted. Oil extraction enterprises take considerable time and investment to set up, so this deal is unlikely to bring Americans any relief from high gas prices in the near future. Secondly, Venezuela’s oil is in the form of heavy or extra-heavy crude, which is much more expensive to process than light crude sourced from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations.
This is also deal which Venezuela has signed under the gun. In a military operation in January, the US kidnapped Venezuela’s elected President Nicolas Maduro from his home in Caracas. Since then, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has essentially run every aspect of Venezuela’s governance, with Maduro’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, as its figurehead. A deal of this magnitude negotiated under these circumstances may pose legal and political difficulties that could dissuade private firms and investors from taking part.
