January 5, 2026 | 10:22 am
The export of oil from Venezuela has been paralyzed amid the United States (US)' attack on the country, according to a Reuters report quoted by Antara from four unnamed sources.
Venezuela's oil exports, which have plummeted to a minimum amid the blockade imposed by US President Donald Trump on all sanctioned tanker ships, are now paralyzed because port captains have not received departure permits for loaded ships, according to several sources.
Several crude oil transport ships in Venezuela, scheduled for shipment to the United States and Asia, have not sailed, according to the news agency's report, citing data from the TankerTrackers ship tracking service.
Several other fuel-loading tanker ships leaving the country have left empty. Specifically, no tanker ships were loaded at the country's main oil port in Jose on Saturday.
Citing several unnamed sources, such a halt to exports could force the country to reduce oil production.
Earlier, citing ship tracking and maritime brokerage data, the Wall Street Journal reported that a tanker ship heading to Venezuela to transport oil had changed course and is now heading to Nigeria.
Meanwhile, four other ships have stopped sailing after Venezuela was attacked by the US.
On Saturday, Trump declared that the US had launched a massive attack on Venezuela, while Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, had been kidnapped and taken out of the country.
A day later, as reported by CNBC, Trump openly stated that US oil companies would be allowed to enter Venezuela to manage the country's giant crude oil reserves.
Trump delivered the plan in a press conference in Florida. He mentioned that the largest US energy companies would invest billions of dollars to improve Venezuela's neglected oil infrastructure.
"We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies — the biggest anywhere in the world — go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, let’s start making money for the country," said Trump.
However, Trump stressed that the embargo on all Venezuelan oil would remain in place. "the embargo he imposed on Venezuelan oil remains in full effect," he added.
Washington has imposed economic sanctions on Venezuela since 2017, followed by sanctions on the oil sector two years later. Currently, Venezuela's oil production is only about less than 1 million barrels per day, according to OPEC data, and most of it is sold on the black market at huge discounts.
Trump accused the Venezuelan government of using oil revenue to finance transnational crimes. Trump claimed Caracas was using oil money to fund drug terrorism, human trafficking, murder, and kidnapping.
At the beginning of his second term in 2025, Trump revoked various operation permits for multinational oil companies in Venezuela, with only the US company Chevron obtaining an exemption.
Chevron currently operates four oil fields in Venezuela in collaboration with the state-owned company PDVSA and its affiliates.
In addition, the US has also imposed a total blockade on tanker ships entering and leaving Venezuela as part of economic pressure.
According to data from the International Energy Agency (IEA) in 2023, Venezuela is known to have about 17 percent of the world's oil reserves. However, its production has plummeted sharply due to years of mismanagement and corruption.
Venezuela's oil is also classified as lower quality and is mostly processed into diesel and derivative products such as asphalt, not gasoline. The United States itself has refineries in the Gulf of Mexico region specifically designed to process this type of oil.
Read: What's Next for Venezuela Oil After US Ousts Maduro?
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