Trump says US has entered deal with Venezuela to take control of 65 billion barrels of oil reserves

President Donald Trump said his administration has entered a sweeping agreement with Venezuela that, if realized, could give the U.S. access to the South American country’s untapped oil reserves at cost, negotiated by U.S. officials including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, along with Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez. The reported deal centers on “65 billion barrels”.

Rodríguez’s government said the agreement involves the development of 17 oil fields with a proven potential of 65 billion barrels and projected that it could draw $100 billion in investment to Venezuela’s oil industry and yield more than $209 billion in taxes for Caracas. Venezuela links the arrangement to 17 fields and $209 billion in taxes.

According to a U.S. official familiar with the deal’s contours, the agreement would allow the United States to partner with an unnamed private operator to create a new private company to hold the reserves, with Rodríguez granting the company 100-year rights to develop the oil. The structure includes 100-year development rights.

The U.S. would receive 55% effective output from the new private company, including an ownership stake and rights to buy oil at cost, and the company would be described as the second-largest corporate holder of proven reserves after Saudi Aramco, per the same U.S. official. The deal terms include a 55% effective output share.

For context on the scale of the resource base, the U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates Venezuela holds approximately 303 billion barrels of proven crude oil reserves—about 17% of global reserves—while production has remained far below the size of those reserves. EIA estimates Venezuela’s proven reserves at ~303 billion barrels.