In a surprise announcement made public Friday, former and current President Donald Trump revealed that his administration has finalized a historic energy agreement with Venezuela’s interim government that secures majority U.S. ownership of 65 billion barrels of the country’s proven oil reserves. Trump hailed the agreement as unparalleled in global energy history, saying it would dramatically expand America’s domestic-held petroleum reserves and deliver much-needed relief to U.S. consumers facing elevated fuel prices.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that the arrangement is set to unlock nearly $100 billion in private sector investment into Venezuela’s struggling oil sector, a move the top diplomat framed as a win for both nations. The breakthrough comes less than five months after the Trump administration oversaw the ousting and capture of long-time Venezuelan ruler Nicolas Maduro in January, after years of escalating diplomatic and economic pressure on his socialist government. Following Maduro’s removal, the U.S. allowed Maduro’s former vice president Delcy Rodriguez to remain in place as interim head of government on the condition that she align her policy agenda with Washington’s priorities.
Trump has long positioned securing Venezuelan oil reserves as a core foreign policy goal, and in a post on his Truth Social platform, he emphasized that the agreement will more than double the volume of proven oil reserves under U.S. control. He credited Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth with negotiating the arrangement with Rodriguez’s administration, noting that the deal was structured as a public-private partnership with U.S. private energy firms. “This Transaction will greatly strengthen the already growing relationship between Venezuela and the United States!” Trump wrote in his post.
Rubio echoed that framing in a post on X, arguing that the deal delivers on the Trump administration’s core “America First” foreign policy agenda. “President Trump’s bold foreign policy is driving America First wins: securing stable reserves and low-cost oil in our Hemisphere and lowering gas prices here at home,” Rubio wrote, adding that for Venezuelan citizens, the near-$100 billion in private investment will support thousands of high-wage jobs and lay the groundwork for widespread economic reconstruction after decades of mismanagement under the Maduro regime. No additional details on the terms of the agreement, including timeline for development or revenue sharing arrangements, have been released publicly.
As of Friday afternoon, there has been no official confirmation of the agreement from Rodriguez’s interim government in Caracas. Prior to Trump’s announcement, U.S. news outlet Axios published a report Thursday citing two unnamed senior U.S. officials that the two countries had been in advanced negotiations over a dozen producing oil fields holding a combined 90 billion barrels of proven reserves – roughly one-third of Venezuela’s total 300 billion barrel proven reserve base, the largest in the world. According to Axios’ reporting, in exchange for U.S. private and public entities taking an ownership stake in the fields, American and international private energy firms will lead infrastructure upgrades and development of the reserves, with a larger share of gross oil revenue returned to Venezuela’s government than under previous arrangements.
The report also noted that the deal comes at a critical moment for U.S. energy security: America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve currently sits at its lowest level in 40 years, and the agreement would allow the U.S. to more than double its total domestically controlled proven reserves.
For the Trump administration, the deal also addresses a pressing political vulnerability: the president has faced sliding approval ratings ahead of November’s midterm elections, driven in part by elevated global oil prices that have pushed up U.S. gasoline costs. The price spikes followed Trump’s decision to launch a military campaign against Iran that disrupted global oil supply chains, and Trump has explicitly tied the new Venezuelan deal to lower pump prices for American consumers.
While the Trump administration has spent months urging U.S. energy companies to expand operations in Venezuela, many firms have remained cautious about committing large-scale capital to the country. Venezuela’s oil infrastructure has fallen into severe disrepair after decades of underinvestment and mismanagement, and previous Venezuelan governments led by Maduro and his predecessor Hugo Chavez expropriated billions of dollars in foreign-owned energy assets, leaving many investors wary of future political risk.
Chevron, the only major U.S. oil company that maintained operations in Venezuela through the end of the Maduro regime, announced in July that it had already lifted its daily crude production in the country to 280,000 barrels, with plans to increase output by an additional 50% by the end of 2028.