What’s behind the US deal to seize control of Venezuelan oil reserves?

The United States has announced that it has secured control of a substantial portion of Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, after President Donald Trump pledged to “take back” the South American country’s energy resources.

On Friday, Trump announced that his government and that of Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez had reached a deal to give the US majority control over more than 65 billion barrels’ worth of proven oil reserves.

Details remain unclear. But the deal will involve 17 strategic oil fields in Venezuela. The US government has said it will partner with a private business to extract the fuel.

“The United States of America has just entered into an Agreement with the Country of Venezuela on, THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY!” Trump wrote in a social media post celebrating the announcement.

What has been said so far, and what could the new deal mean for US-Venezuela relations? We answer those questions and more in this explainer.

The deal reportedly involves 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan oil reserves.

That amounts to roughly a fifth of Venezuela’s proven oil reserves. As of 2023, the US government estimates that Venezuela has 303 billion barrels of oil reserves, the largest known deposit in the world.

Approximately 17 percent of the world’s oil supply is estimated to be in the South American country.