Phoenix 24
The agreement promises access to 65 billion barrels, but control does not mean immediate ownership or production.
WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES
President Donald Trump has announced an agreement with Venezuela giving the United States majority participation in the development of 17 strategic oil fields. The fields contain an estimated 65 billion barrels of proven reserves, approximately one-fifth of Venezuela’s total. Acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez confirmed the agreement, describing it as a mechanism for reviving the country’s deteriorated petroleum industry.
According to an unnamed U.S. official cited by the Associated Press, the arrangement would create a private company jointly involving the United States and an unidentified commercial operator. The company would receive development rights lasting 100 years, while the United States would obtain an effective 55 percent share of production, an ownership interest and the right to purchase crude at cost. Complete contracts identifying the companies, financial obligations and enforcement mechanisms have not been made public.
Rodríguez said the projects could attract more than $100 billion in investment and eventually generate $209 billion in Venezuelan tax revenue. These figures are projections rather than guaranteed payments. Venezuela possesses approximately 303 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, the largest national total in the world, but produces only about 1.25 million barrels per day because of damaged infrastructure, inadequate electricity, weak export capacity, sanctions and decades of underinvestment.
The agreement may also encounter constitutional and political challenges. Venezuelan law preserves state authority over core petroleum activities, making the legal foundation for a foreign government’s majority control uncertain. Investors will additionally require assurances that future administrations will respect contracts after previous nationalizations and expropriations drove international companies from the country.
Trump presented the arrangement as a way to replenish the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve and reduce domestic gasoline prices. Those effects will not be immediate because Venezuelan heavy crude requires specialized infrastructure, extensive repairs and billions of dollars before production can increase substantially. The agreement follows the U.S. operation that captured Nicolás Maduro and elevated Rodríguez to interim leadership, giving the transaction a geopolitical significance extending far beyond energy markets. It represents not simply a commercial investment, but a transfer of long-term strategic influence over one of the world’s largest petroleum resources.
Geopolítica, sin maquillaje. / Geopolitics, unmasked.