Trump Announces 'Biggest Oil Deal in World History' With Venezuela

President Donald Trump announced late Friday that the United States has entered into what he called "the biggest oil deal in world history" with Venezuela, securing majority American control over more than 65 billion barrels of the country's proven oil reserves.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the agreement was negotiated by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in coordination with Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodríguez. He described it as coming "at no cost to the American Taxpayer" and claimed it would "more than double American oil reserves" while helping lower gas prices nationwide.

What the deal involves

Under the arrangement, the US will partner with an unnamed private operator to form a new company that will develop 17 Venezuelan oilfields. According to a US official familiar with the matter, Rodríguez's government has granted the new entity 100-year rights to develop the fields, with the US holding a 55% effective stake in output, including rights to purchase oil at cost.

Venezuelan officials estimate the agreement could draw upwards of $100 billion in fresh investment into the country's long-neglected oil sector and generate more than $209 billion in tax revenue for the state over time. Rodríguez called the deal a "historic milestone" for Venezuela's economic revival.

The new venture would become the second-largest corporate holder of proven oil reserves in the world, trailing only Saudi Aramco, based on the scale of Venezuela's estimated 303 billion barrels of crude in the ground — roughly 17% of global reserves, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

Why now

The announcement comes as Trump faces mounting domestic pressure over gasoline prices, which averaged about $4.09 a gallon in the US on Friday, up sharply from a year earlier. The ongoing conflict involving Iran has slowed the flow of Gulf oil through the Strait of Hormuz, a corridor that normally carries roughly a fifth of the world's petroleum, adding further strain to global supply and prompting the US to draw down its strategic reserves to their lowest levels in years.

It also follows a dramatic shift in US-Venezuela relations over the past year. The deal arrives roughly nine months after a US military operation captured then-President Nicolás Maduro, who now faces narcoterrorism and drug trafficking charges in US federal court and has pleaded not guilty.

Reality check on timing

Despite the scale of the announcement, analysts caution that any meaningful boost to US gas prices or global oil supply is unlikely in the near term. Venezuela currently produces only a fraction of its potential output — about 1% of world oil — after years of underinvestment, mismanagement and sanctions left its infrastructure badly degraded. Rebuilding and expanding that infrastructure is expected to take years and require billions of dollars in capital.

Major US oil companies have also voiced caution about returning to Venezuela given the country's political uncertainty and history of nationalization. Rubio, for his part, framed the agreement as a mutual win, saying on social media that it would secure stable, lower-cost oil for American consumers while funding jobs and rebuilding efforts in Venezuela.

Neither side has disclosed which private company will operate the new joint venture or the full legal structure of the arrangement, leaving key questions about implementation still open.

This article is an original editorial summary based on publicly reported information. It has been independently written for publication and does not reproduce content from any single source.