Art of the deal: Trump secures US control over 65 billion barrels in historic Venezuela oil deal

By SUZANNE DOWNING

Sept. 3, 2026 – President Donald Trump has secured American control over one of the largest pools of proven oil reserves ever placed under a single commercial agreement, dramatically expanding the United States’ access to energy in the Western Hemisphere while pushing Russia and China out of Venezuelan oil fields.

The agreement covers 17 fields containing more than 65 billion barrels of proven reserves. It’s considerably more than the roughly 46 billion barrels of proven crude reserves currently located within the United States.

Trump called it “the biggest oil deal in world history.”

Under the agreement, the United States will receive a combination of ownership, governance authority and guaranteed rights to buy oil at cost from North American Blue Energy Partners, or NABEP, a private Venezuelan producer.

Venezuela’s interim government has granted the company 100-year development rights to the fields. The United States will receive an effective 55% share of the company’s output through its ownership interest and oil-purchasing rights, according to administration officials.

The arrangement would make the new company the second-largest private corporate holder of proven oil reserves in the world, trailing only Saudi Aramco.

The White House says the United States will pay nothing for the ownership and purchasing rights, with the development costs instead carried through private investment. Venezuela estimates that as much as $100 billion could be invested in rebuilding fields, pipelines and other infrastructure neglected during decades of socialist rule.

“This deal is a huge win for both the American and Venezuelan people,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.

NABEP already produces approximately 250,000 barrels per day in Venezuela, giving it an established operation that could begin directing additional barrels toward the United States as early as next year. The administration says some oil could begin reaching the market at cost before the end of 2026.

Much of Venezuela’s petroleum is heavy, high-sulfur crude that is particularly suited to specialized refineries along the U.S. Gulf Coast. Millions of additional barrels could eventually be processed in American refineries using American drilling equipment, technology and infrastructure.

The deal could also help rebuild the depleted Strategic Petroleum Reserve, although Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the heavy Venezuelan crude would likely need to be exchanged for lighter American oil before being placed in the reserve. Venezuelan grades generally do not meet the specifications used for the underground reserve caverns in Texas and Louisiana. Reuters reported that the administration is considering such a swap.

The administration says most of the 17 fields had previously been controlled or operated by Russian and Chinese interests or politically connected associates of the former governments of Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro.

Trump officials described the transfer as a modern assertion of the Monroe Doctrine: removing hostile foreign powers from strategically important resources in the Western Hemisphere while building an energy supply chain closer to the United States.

The agreement is also intended to provide thousands of American jobs and billions of dollars in domestic investment as production expands. For Venezuela, the development could provide jobs, infrastructure and government revenue after years of nationalization, corruption and economic collapse.

The White House emphasized that the commercial agreement is with NABEP, rather than a political settlement with Venezuela’s interim government. It is governed by US law and includes American auditors, financial monitoring and governance protections intended to prevent the corruption that plagued Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PDVSA.

Any money NABEP transfers to PDVSA will pass through a U.S.-managed and audited account, according to the administration.

The oil agreement is part of Trump’s three-stage plan for Venezuela: stabilization, economic recovery and reconciliation, followed ultimately by a transition to democratic government.

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has urged caution, saying the full terms and guarantees remain unclear. She said long-term investment will ultimately require the legitimacy and stability of a democratic government. Reuters reported that Machado supports a close US-Venezuela energy partnership but wants greater transparency surrounding the agreement.

Energy analysts have also cautioned that reviving Venezuela’s severely deteriorated petroleum infrastructure will take substantial time and capital. The country currently produces approximately 1.25 million barrels per day, far below its late-1990s peak of about 3 million barrels.

Trump officials say existing NABEP production and the guaranteed American off-take provisions will produce benefits much sooner, while the larger rebuilding campaign proceeds. Separate agreements announced this week include plans by Chevron to invest more than $7 billion and double its Venezuelan production to approximately 600,000 barrels per day within five years.

The 65 billion barrels covered by the Trump agreement represent roughly one-fifth of Venezuela’s estimated 303 billion barrels of proven crude reserves, the largest national reserve total in the world.

If fully developed, the agreement would more than double the volume of proven oil reserves available under American territorial control and the new Venezuela arrangement combined.

It also gives the United States something Washington has sought for decades: a massive, long-term energy resource in its own hemisphere, outside the reach of hostile governments and without an acquisition cost to American taxpayers. The potential payoff is greater energy security, more work for American producers and refiners, and downward pressure on fuel prices for generations.