RismadarVoice Reporters, August 29, 2026
US President Donald Trump has announced a major oil agreement with Venezuela that he said would give the United States majority control of 65 billion barrels of proven petroleum reserves.
Trump described the agreement as “the biggest oil deal in world history,” while US and Venezuelan officials said it could attract nearly $100 billion in private investment to Venezuela.
The development comes as Venezuela, which holds the world’s largest proven oil reserves, remains under significant pressure from the Trump administration following the ouster and capture of its longtime leader, Nicolás Maduro, in January.
Maduro’s former vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, was allowed to remain in government as interim leader under an arrangement with Washington.
Trump has repeatedly expressed interest in securing access to Venezuela’s vast oil resources. In announcing the agreement on his Truth Social platform, he said the deal would more than double US oil reserves.
Rodríguez confirmed the agreement, describing it as a “historic” deal that would have a significant impact on Venezuela’s economic recovery.
She said the agreement could attract more than $100 billion in investment and generate over $209 billion in tax revenue for the Venezuelan government.
Trump said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth negotiated the agreement with Rodríguez through a partnership involving private businesses.
“This Transaction will greatly strengthen the already growing relationship between Venezuela and the United States!” Trump wrote.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the agreement reflected the Trump administration’s “America First” foreign policy by securing stable oil reserves in the Western Hemisphere while potentially helping to reduce fuel prices in the United States.
Rubio said the agreement would bring nearly $100 billion in private investment to Venezuela, create thousands of jobs and support the reconstruction of the country’s economy.
However, energy experts said several questions remained unanswered, particularly regarding how control of the oil assets would be transferred.
Jorge Piñón, a senior researcher at the Energy Institute at the University of Texas at Austin, described the arrangement as unconventional.
He questioned whether the deal involved an outright sale, a transfer of ownership or a structure in which the United States would gain control only after the oil reserves were produced.
Reports had earlier indicated that the United States and Venezuela were negotiating over several productive oil fields containing significant proven reserves.
Under the proposed arrangement, private companies, including US firms, would develop the fields while Venezuela would receive a greater share of the resulting oil revenues.
The agreement comes as the Trump administration encourages American energy companies to invest in Venezuela.
However, some investors remain cautious because of Venezuela’s deteriorating oil infrastructure and the history of government seizures of foreign-owned assets.
Chevron, the only major US oil company that continued operating in Venezuela before Maduro’s removal, said in July that it had increased its crude production in the country to about 280,000 barrels per day.
The company also plans to increase production by 50 per cent by the end of 2028.
Energy expert John Kilduff of Again Capital said the major concern for investors remained the safety and security of their investments.
He suggested that US control over the oil fields could create a protected environment for American companies to operate while reducing the political risks traditionally associated with investing in Venezuela.
The proposed deal could also have significant political implications for Trump, as high gasoline prices remain a major concern for American voters ahead of the November midterm elections.
