Donald Trump says the United States has secured majority control over more than 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan oil — a volume greater than America's existing proved crude reserves. The agreement could attract around US$100 billion in private investment, but Venezuela retains legal ownership of the resources and the precise structure of Washington's claimed control remains unclear.
INR Report: Based on reporting by RT HERE
US President Donald Trump says a sweeping oil agreement with Venezuela has effectively more than doubled the volume of petroleum reserves under American control, after Washington secured what he described as a majority interest in more than 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan crude.
Trump announced that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth had worked with Venezuelan interim leader Delcy Rodriguez and private companies to establish what he called “majority US control” of the reserves at no cost to American taxpayers.
Trump described the arrangement as the “biggest oil deal in world history” and claimed that it “more than doubles American oil reserves.”
That claim, however, needs an important qualification.
Control Is Not the Same as Ownership
US Energy Information Administration figures cited by RT put American proved crude-oil and lease-condensate reserves at around 46 billion barrels.
Adding 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan petroleum would therefore bring the combined volume under some form of claimed American control to more than 111 billion barrels.
But Venezuelan oil does not thereby become part of the United States' domestic proved reserves. The petroleum remains physically located in Venezuela, and Caracas maintains that Venezuela retains ownership and sovereignty over its natural resources.
The distinction between ownership, development rights, commercial control and control of revenues is consequently central to understanding what Washington has actually obtained.
Trump's announcement describes majority American control, while the precise ownership and contractual structure has not yet been publicly detailed.
US$100 Billion Investment Programme
Rubio described the agreement as a major economic victory and said it could bring nearly US$100 billion in private investment into Venezuela, create thousands of jobs and ultimately help lower gasoline prices in the United States.
Rodriguez has confirmed that the agreement covers 17 strategic oilfields containing an estimated 65 billion barrels of proven petroleum potential.
According to the Venezuelan government's projections, development of the fields could attract more than US$100 billion of investment while generating more than US$209 billion in tax revenue for Venezuela.
Those figures remain projections rather than guaranteed returns. Actual revenues will depend upon investment, production volumes, operating costs and future international oil prices.
Private companies are expected to participate in developing the fields, although RT notes that the precise ownership structure remains unclear.
Earlier reports had suggested Washington was seeking extremely long-term development rights.
An Extraordinary Turn in US-Venezuela Relations
The agreement cannot be separated from the dramatic political events preceding it.
According to RT's account, the deal follows the January 3 US military operation in which Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was captured and transported to the United States to face federal charges.
Trump subsequently declared that Washington would “run” Venezuela during a political transition and did not rule out further military action should the interim government refuse to cooperate.
Washington then moved to establish what was described as “indefinite” control over Venezuelan oil sales and revenues, with proceeds from crude sales placed in US Treasury accounts subject to American restrictions.
The latest oil agreement therefore goes substantially beyond a conventional commercial investment by American energy companies.
It forms part of a wider restructuring of the political and economic relationship between Washington and Caracas.
Venezuela's Sovereignty Question
The arrangement has consequently generated criticism inside Venezuela.
Ricardo Hausmann, a former Venezuelan planning minister and prominent critic of the country's previous government, has reportedly described the agreement as “unconstitutional.”
His argument is that Rodriguez leads an interim administration without the constitutional authority to surrender long-term control over Venezuela's petroleum resources.
Former Venezuelan vice president Elias Jaua has similarly accused Washington of stripping Venezuela of its sovereignty and taking control of its natural resources.
Those are political and legal claims rather than established judicial findings, but they identify the fundamental unresolved issue surrounding the agreement.
If Venezuela continues legally to own the oil while Washington controls how substantial portions of it are developed, marketed and monetised, what does national ownership mean in practice?
The answer will depend upon contractual details that have not yet been made public.
Why 65 Billion Barrels Matters
The scale of the resource is difficult to overstate.
Venezuela possesses the world's largest proved petroleum reserves, but years of declining investment, sanctions, infrastructure deterioration and political instability have left production far below the country's historical capacity.
Unlocking even part of that resource through large-scale foreign investment could materially increase global petroleum supply over time.
But 65 billion barrels of reserves is not the same as 65 billion barrels of immediately available oil.
Oilfields must be developed. Wells must be drilled and maintained. Pipelines, terminals and processing infrastructure require investment. Venezuela's heavy crude can also require specialised refining capacity.
The meaningful indicator will therefore be how rapidly Venezuelan production and exports actually increase.
If Washington's arrangement produces a sustained increase of hundreds of thousands — or eventually millions — of barrels per day, its influence on global energy markets could become substantial.
Energy Security Becomes Geopolitical Power
The agreement also illustrates how rapidly energy security has returned to the centre of international politics.
Washington's claimed control over 65 billion barrels arrives as Europe struggles with reduced Russian energy supplies, Middle Eastern instability threatens shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and governments increasingly treat secure access to energy as a strategic rather than purely commercial issue.
Venezuelan petroleum therefore represents more than another source of crude.
It could provide the United States with enormous long-term influence over a strategically important energy resource located within the Western Hemisphere.
That would have implications not only for Venezuela, but potentially for OPEC, global oil pricing, American refiners and Washington's geopolitical leverage.
Does This Affect New Zealand?
Potentially, through global oil and refined-fuel markets.
New Zealand now depends heavily on imported refined petroleum products. That means changes in international crude supply, refinery economics and shipping costs can eventually flow through to petrol, diesel and aviation-fuel prices here.
If American investment successfully restores Venezuelan production and materially increases the amount of crude reaching world markets, the additional supply could exert downward pressure on international oil prices over the longer term.
But that outcome is neither immediate nor guaranteed.
The more immediate lesson for New Zealand is strategic.
Countries are again treating energy infrastructure, storage and control of supply as matters of national security. The United States is attempting to secure long-term influence over one of the world's largest petroleum reserves while Europe confronts the consequences of losing access to much of its former Russian supply.
New Zealand has meanwhile moved from domestic refining at Marsden Point to an overwhelmingly import-dependent fuel system.
The Venezuelan agreement therefore reinforces a question increasingly relevant here: in an unstable world, how much control should a country retain over the energy resources and infrastructure on which its economy depends?
Trump says the United States has just added more than 65 billion barrels to the resources under its control.
Whether history ultimately records that as an extraordinary commercial agreement, a geopolitical acquisition or something closer to control of another country's strategic resources will depend on what the still-undisclosed contracts actually provide.
Source: RT, 28 August 2026 — Trump claims he doubled US oil reserves with Venezuela deal
Independent reporting. Original context. Credited sources.