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Trump says U.S. has entered deal with Venezuela to control 65 billion barrels of its oil reserves
๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ United States /Economy & Trade

Trump says U.S. has entered deal with Venezuela to control 65 billion barrels of its oil reserves

From PBS NewsHour · () English

Summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources New plan
  • President Donald Trump announced on Friday that the U.S. has entered an agreement with Venezuela to control 65 billion barrels of the country's oil reserves.
  • Trump stated the deal was negotiated by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, along with Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodriguez.
  • The announcement follows the U.S. military's operation to capture Venezuela's former president Nicolรกs Maduro in January.

President Donald Trump announced Friday that the United States has secured an agreement with Venezuela to take control of 65 billion barrels of the South American nation's oil reserves. Trump declared the deal, announced via a social media post, to be "THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY!"

The agreement was reportedly negotiated by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in coordination with Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodriguez. This development comes nearly nine months after the U.S. military, under Trump's direction, conducted an operation to apprehend Venezuela's former president Nicolรกs Maduro and bring him to the United States to face federal charges related to narcoterrorism and drug trafficking.

Trump faces mounting pressure to address high gas prices, particularly as the conflict in Iran reaches a six-month milestone without resolution. The U.S. has drawn down its strategic petroleum reserves, which fell below 300 million barrels in early August, a decrease of over 100 million barrels since the start of 2026.

Following Maduro's ouster in January, Trump had previously suggested that U.S. oil companies should return to Venezuela to access its vast oil reserves. He has argued that Venezuela nationalized U.S. assets decades ago under former President Hugo Chavez. Venezuela possesses one of the world's largest oil reserves, estimated at 303 billion barrels, representing about 17% of the global supply. Despite these reserves being largely mapped, the country's dilapidated infrastructure limits its production to about 1% of the world's oil.

The United States of America has just entered into an Agreement with the Country of Venezuela on, THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY!

โ€” Donald TrumpAnnouncing the oil deal with Venezuela on social media.
About this summary

Originally published by PBS NewsHour. Summarized and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.