President Donald Trump announced Friday that the U.S. has reached what he described as the “biggest oil deal in world history” with Venezuela, claiming the agreement will give the U.S. majority control over more than 65 billion barrels of proven Venezuelan oil reserves.
Trump unveiled the agreement in a lengthy statement, saying Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth worked with Venezuelan Interim President Delcy Rodriguez and private businesses to secure the deal. The announcement was quickly reported by financial news outlets Friday.
“BREAKING NEWS: The United States of America has just entered into an Agreement with the Country of Venezuela on, THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY!” Trump wrote.
The president said the arrangement gives the United States majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of proven reserves without requiring American taxpayers to fund the transaction.
Trump argued that the agreement will more than double U.S. oil reserves while dramatically expanding the country’s access to petroleum.
The president also predicted that the additional supply will substantially reduce gasoline prices for American consumers over the long term.
“This Historic Transaction MORE THAN DOUBLES American Oil Reserves, greatly increases our Oil Supply, and will substantially lower Gas Prices for all Americans, long into the future,” Trump wrote.
Trump said the agreement was reached through cooperation involving the administration, Rodriguez and private-sector businesses. His announcement did not identify the participating companies or provide detailed financial terms governing their involvement.
The agreement represents the latest development in the Trump administration’s dramatic restructuring of the U.S. relationship with Venezuela.
Earlier this year, the White House said the administration had secured an agreement for Venezuela to turn over between 30 million and 50 million barrels of sanctioned oil to the United States. The administration also highlighted its seizure of sanctioned Venezuelan oil tankers and actions targeting the country’s shadow oil fleet.
Venezuela possesses some of the largest petroleum resources on the planet, but years of political instability, sanctions and underinvestment have severely constrained the country’s ability to capitalize on those reserves.
Restoring Venezuelan production on a major scale would require significant private investment. The American Action Forum previously estimated that maintaining production around 900,000 barrels per day alone could require approximately $65 billion in investment, while returning output to 2 million barrels per day could cost well over $100 billion.
The newly announced agreement could therefore give American businesses a substantial role in the future development of Venezuela’s energy industry, although Trump’s initial statement did not provide a timeline for developing the reserves under U.S. control.
The president framed the agreement as benefiting both countries, arguing that increased American involvement would help put Venezuela on a path toward economic growth.
Trump said the deal would help “continue to set Venezuela on a course toward Tremendous Success and Great Prosperity.”
He also portrayed the agreement as evidence of strengthening relations between Washington and Caracas, declaring that the transaction would “greatly strengthen” the growing relationship between the two countries.
The announcement follows other recent economic cooperation between the two governments. In May, the White House publicized a U.S.-Venezuela mineral agreement, another indication of expanding economic engagement between Washington and Caracas.
The scale of Friday’s oil announcement, however, would make it considerably larger than those earlier arrangements if implemented according to the terms described by Trump.
Additional details concerning participating companies, production targets, implementation dates and the precise structure of U.S. control over the Venezuelan reserves were not immediately included in Trump’s announcement.
Trump concluded his statement by calling the agreement a “groundbreaking matter” and declaring, “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
