President Donald Trump announced a massive energy agreement with Venezuela on Friday night. He says the United States now has majority U.S. control over 65 billion barrels of oil reserves, according to the Daily Caller. The plan aims to substantially lower Gas Prices for all Americans. This comes after American forces captured former President Nicolás Maduro in January. In a Truth Social post, Trump labeled the move "THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY"
The agreement creates a new private company to manage these vast reserves. The U.S. holds a 55% effective interest in the output from 17 specific Venezuelan fields. These purchases will fill the U.S. strategic oil reserves and support the military. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Delcy Rodríguez received Trump's credit for negotiating the pact.
Experts warn that getting this oil to the pump takes time. Venezuela's crude is extremely heavy and needs special blending to flow through pipes. The nation requires higher drilling activity, extensive workover campaigns, improved infrastructure and significantly greater rig availability. Without these changes, production cannot jump quickly.
Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela's acting president, called the deal "a generational reset." She stated the project could draw $100 billion in investment. Caracas could potentially receive more than $209 billion in taxes from this funding. However, experts expect years of work before any price relief hits the station. An analyst noted that while the deal is helpful in the long run, it is not going to do anything to change the price of gasoline at the retail station for Labor Day weekend.
The president stated the deal more than doubles American reserves. He believes the partnership will strengthen ties between the two nations. Trump stated that Venezuela consented to allow the U.S. to refine and sell 50 million barrels of crude oil. He said this supply "will continue indefinitely." The second largest corporate holder of proven reserves globally would be the new company.
Trump has focused on these reserves since the capture of Maduro. The White House has said little about the details so far. No text of the agreement has been released to the public yet.
While the potential is huge, the timeline remains long. It takes years to deploy that much capital and produce results. The real test will be when the first barrel of Venezuelan oil actually reaches an American pump.