PODCAST:
Aug. 31, 2026 ~ Chris Renwick and Lloyd Jackson talk with Paul Sankey, lead analyst at Sankey Research, about the Trump administration announcing an oil deal with Venezuela.
VENEZUELA ~ President Donald Trump announced that a deal was reached with Venezuela over the weekend, saying that the U.S. will take control of 65 billion barrels of Venezuela’s oil while drawing divisive reactions within the South American nation.
Amid soaring gas prices and dwindling U.S. oil reserves, Trump wrote on X that “The United States of America has just entered into an Agreement with the Country of Venezuela on, THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY!” Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, claimed the deal would help bolster the nation’s oil industry and develop its economy.
Under the deal, an unknown private operator will work with the U.S. to help develop 17 new oils fields alongside a private company approved by Rodríguez. The deal grants the U.S. 55% effective output of the new private company and potentially invest $100 billion into the nation’s oil industry.
Rodríguez, who is serving as Venezuela’s interim leader after elected President Nicolas Maduro was abducted by the U.S. in January on allegations of “narcoterrorism,” said the nation will maintain “ownership of and sovereignty” over its resources with the deal. However, many Venezuelans, particularly those part of the socialist and anti-imperialist initiative pushed by former President Hugo Chávez. The leader had previously nationalized the nation’s oil reserves in the mid 2000, a move that drew ire from some U.S. officials like Trump.
One person who was outraged by the deal was the former head of the state-owned oil company PDVSA, Rafael Ramírez, who wrote in a series of translated X posts that the deal opened the doors “to the new colonialism of the United States,” and that it “stabbed the heart of the Homeland!”
The deal is also part of an effort to lower gas prices, which has risen sharply this year due to the U.S. and Israel’s war on Iran disrupting the global oil trade. However, experts warned that legal and infrastructure hurdles must be cleared before drilling can begin, making it unlikely that the deal will lower gas prices for the U.S. anytime soon.
