President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that his administration would permit U.S. oil companies to move into Venezuela and tap its enormous crude reserves following a U.S. military operation that resulted in the arrest of President Nicolás Maduro.
According to American officials, the U.S. military launched a series of airstrikes on Caracas in the early hours of Saturday, after which Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured and flown to New York to face charges related to drug trafficking and weapons offences.
Addressing reporters at a press briefing in Florida, Trump said leading U.S. oil corporations would be urged to make substantial investments in Venezuela’s severely damaged energy industry.
He said the plan was for America’s largest oil companies to commit billions of dollars to rehabilitate the country’s dilapidated oil infrastructure, restore production and ultimately generate revenue for Venezuela.
However, Trump emphasised that Washington’s tough position on Venezuelan oil had not changed, noting that the comprehensive embargo on all Venezuelan crude remains firmly in place.
The United States first imposed sweeping economic sanctions on Venezuela in 2017, followed by targeted oil sanctions in 2019, steps U.S. authorities say were designed to weaken the Maduro administration.
Trump has consistently accused the Venezuelan government of diverting oil earnings to finance activities such as drug trafficking, human trafficking, killings and kidnappings.
Venezuela currently produces slightly less than one million barrels of oil per day, according to figures from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Due to sanctions, a significant portion of this output is sold on the black market at heavily discounted prices.
Early in his second term in 2025, Trump withdrew licenses that had allowed several international oil and gas companies to continue operating in Venezuela despite U.S. sanctions. Chevron, a major American oil firm, was the sole company granted an exemption.
Chevron maintains operations at four oil fields in partnership with Venezuela’s state-run oil company, PDVSA, and its subsidiaries. In addition, the United States has enforced a full blockade on tankers under sanctions entering or leaving Venezuelan ports.
Although Venezuela possesses roughly 17 per cent of the world’s proven oil reserves, based on 2023 estimates by the International Energy Agency, prolonged mismanagement and corruption have severely undermined its production capacity, leaving the country well short of its potential as a leading global oil producer.