January 7, 2026 | 12:25 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - United States President Donald Trump has announced that Venezuela will hand over 30 to 50 million barrels of oil, subject to sanctions. According to him, the oil stored due to Washington's embargo on Venezuela exports will be sold at market prices. Trump will control the resulting revenue to ensure that the money is used for the interests of the people of Venezuela and the United States.
Trump added that he had instructed Energy Minister Chris Wright to carry out the plan immediately. "It will be taken by storage ships, and brought directly to unloading docks in the United States," said Trump on his platform, Truth Social, on Tuesday, as cited from Al Jazeera.
Trump's announcement follows his promise to reclaim Venezuela's oil reserves. He also wants to revitalize the energy industry of the Latin American country, which has been languishing after the kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by his government.
Trump said that U.S. oil companies are ready to invest billions of dollars to rebuild Venezuela's crumbling infrastructure and exploit its oil reserves. He claimed that Venezuela's oil reserves had been "stolen" from the U.S., a false claim.
The United States does not have ownership claims to Venezuela's oil under international law, although the late Hugo Chavez did seize properties belonging to American companies as part of the nationalization of the sector. There has been no comment from the U.S. oil giants Chevron, Exxon Mobil, and ConocoPhillips.
In the global market context, 50 million barrels per day (bpd) would only represent a relatively small increase in supply. World oil consumption exceeds 100 million barrels per day. The U.S. only produces about 14 million barrels per day.
Analysts say that Venezuela's production peaked in the 1990s, reaching over three million barrels per day. Significant investment and potentially years are needed to restore Venezuela's former oil glory.
Venezuela's oil sector requires an estimated $110 billion in capital investment to once again produce around two million barrels per day, according to Rystad Energy, a Norway-based consulting firm.
Some market observers are skeptical that U.S. companies will commit to significant investments in the country, given their experiences with asset seizures under the Chavez government and the oversupply of oil in the global market.
ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips were each awarded $1.6 billion and $8.7 billion in international arbitration following the nationalization of the last remaining private oil fields in the country by the Chavez government in 2007. The Venezuelan government did not pay in either case.
Chevron is the only major U.S. oil company still operating in Venezuela, with a production of about 150,000 barrels per day.
Venezuela was once among the world's largest oil producers. Oil production has declined due to U.S. sanctions, years of underinvestment, mismanagement, and corruption under Nicholas Maduro and Hugo Chavez. Although this Latin American country still has the largest oil reserves, its current production accounts for less than one percent of the global supply.
Read: White House and US Energy Firms Discuss Venezuelan Oil
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