US President Donald Trump on Saturday said American oil companies would be allowed to operate in Venezuela following the capture of the country’s leader, Nicolás Maduro, after a US military operation.
Trump disclosed that US forces carried out air strikes on Caracas early Saturday, leading to the arrest of Maduro and his wife. The pair were flown to New York City to face charges related to drug trafficking and weapons offences.
Speaking at a news conference in Florida, Trump said major US oil firms would invest billions of dollars to rehabilitate Venezuela’s 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 oil infrastructure and start making money for the country,” he said.
However, the president stressed that the embargo on Venezuelan oil remained in force.
“The embargo on all Venezuelan oil remains in full effect,” Trump added.
Washington first imposed economic sanctions on Venezuela in 2017, followed by oil sanctions in 2019. According to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Venezuela currently produces just under one million barrels of crude oil per day, much of which is sold on the black market at discounted prices.
Trump accused Caracas of using oil revenues to fund “drug terrorism, human trafficking, murder and kidnapping.”
At the start of his second term in 2025, Trump revoked licences that had permitted multinational oil and gas companies to operate in Venezuela despite the sanctions, leaving US oil giant Chevron as the only firm granted an exemption. Chevron currently operates four oil fields in partnership with Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PDVSA.
The US has also enforced a full blockade on sanctioned tankers travelling to and from Venezuela.
Although Venezuela holds about 17 per cent of the world’s proven oil reserves, according to the International Energy Agency in 2023, years of corruption and mismanagement have significantly reduced its output. Much of the country’s heavy crude is processed into diesel and other byproducts rather than gasoline.
Analysts say the United States does not rely on Venezuelan oil for its energy needs. “The United States is doing just fine without Venezuelan oil,” Stephen Schork of the Schork Group told AFP last month, citing political considerations behind Washington’s stance.
AFP
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