The United States has struck an unprecedented agreement with Venezuela granting Washington control over more than 65 billion barrels of the country’s proven oil reserves, President Donald Trump announced, calling it a “Historic Transaction” that would dramatically expand America’s energy supply and lower gas prices nationwide.
Trump said the deal, reached through a partnership involving Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, and private operators, would more than double America’s oil reserves. Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodríguez praised the agreement as a catalyst for her nation’s economic revival after years of turmoil.
The deal follows the US capture of former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro earlier this year and comes as Trump faces pressure to stabilise domestic petrol prices amid the Iran conflict. Rubio hailed the agreement as “a huge win for both the American and Venezuelan people,” claiming it would bring nearly $100 billion in private investment, create thousands of high‑paying jobs, and drive Venezuela’s reconstruction.
Rodríguez said the agreement covers 17 strategic oil fields with a proven potential of 65 billion barrels, alongside more than $100 billion in investment and $209 billion in taxes for the Venezuelan state. She said the deal would strengthen regional energy security and help rebalance global markets.
A US official told CBS News that Washington will retain 55% control of a joint venture with an experienced private operator in Venezuela, and that Rodríguez has granted a 100‑year concession to develop the fields.
Trump offered few specifics on the mechanics of the arrangement, which appears to give the US direct governance over a foreign nation’s sovereign natural resources a scope broader than the US‑led Coalition Provisional Authority’s control over Iraq’s oil after 2003.
The agreement marks one of the most unusual and far‑reaching energy deals in modern geopolitical history, with implications likely to reverberate across global markets and diplomatic circles.
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