WASHINGTON — President Trump announced Friday that the United States has taken majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of proven oil reserves in Venezuela, an arrangement he described in characteristically expansive terms as "THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY!"
Writing on Truth Social, Trump credited Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth with negotiating the agreement alongside Venezuelan interim president Delcy Rodriguez, and said it had been structured through a partnership with private business "at no cost to the American Taxpayer."
The president framed the transaction as a consumer story as much as a geopolitical one, saying it "MORE THAN DOUBLES American Oil Reserves" and would "substantially lower Gas Prices for all Americans, long into the future," while setting Venezuela on a path toward what he called tremendous success and great prosperity.
A reserve base left to decay
Venezuela sits on roughly 303 billion barrels of crude — about 17% of the world's proven supply, the largest of any country. Converting that into actual production has been the problem.
Output collapsed under socialist rule. ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips exited the market, and the extraction infrastructure the state inherited was allowed to deteriorate badly. Rebuilding it, not finding the oil, is the central challenge of any US involvement.
Trump has signaled his interest in reviving the Venezuelan oil sector since January, when former dictator Nicolas Maduro was ousted and arrested, and has been explicit that he wants American companies drilling in the country's fields.
Tight supply at home
The timing is not incidental. Six months of war between the US and Iran have squeezed global supply, and the cushion the US would normally lean on has thinned considerably. Earlier this month the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the emergency stockpile managed by the Department of Energy, dropped below 300 million barrels — its lowest level in four decades.
Rubio called the agreement "a huge win for both the American and Venezuelan people" in a post on X, arguing it demonstrated "how President Trump's bold foreign policy is driving America First wins: securing stable reserves and low-cost oil in our Hemisphere and lowering gas prices here at home."
On the Venezuelan side of the ledger, Rubio said the deal would draw close to $100 billion in private investment, support thousands of high-paying jobs and drive the reconstruction of the country's economy.
Trump added that the arrangement would "greatly strengthen the already growing relationship between Venezuela and the United States."
According to Axios, the fields in which the US is taking a stake were previously held by former Venezuelan insiders — including some under indictment by the Justice Department — as well as by Chinese interests.
This story was first reported by the New York Post. Read the original account here: https://nypost.com/2026/08/28/us-news/trump-announces-biggest-oil-deal-in-world-history-with-venezuela/
