Trump announces sweeping Venezuela oil deal, calls it 'biggest in world history'
Trump says US and Venezuela struck a deal for control of 65 billion barrels of oil reserves, touting it as the biggest in history.
President Donald Trump announced on Friday that his administration has reached a sweeping agreement with Venezuela that, if realized, could grant the United States access to vast amounts of the South American nation's untapped oil reserves at cost. In a social media post, Trump hailed it as "THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY!"
The agreement, according to Trump, was negotiated by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodríguez. Venezuela's government stated the deal covers 17 oil fields with a proven potential of 65 billion barrels, and could attract $100 billion in investment while generating over $209 billion in tax revenue for Caracas.
Rodríguez described the deal as a step toward economic recovery, saying the reserves would "cease to be an inert, cold statistic and will instead become concrete solutions. Housing is one of them." A U.S. official familiar with the contours of the deal said it allows the United States to partner with an unnamed private operator in Venezuela to create a new private company to take control of the reserves.
The announcement follows the capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by American forces in January, who now faces federal drug trafficking charges in New York. However, many questions remain unanswered, including how soon the reserves could be drilled and who will finance the operations. No text of the agreement has been released so far.