Trump Eyes Venezuela’s Crude Oil After Maduro’s Capture

President Donald Trump on Saturday said his administration would allow American oil companies to enter Venezuela to exploit its vast crude reserves following a U.S. military operation that led to the capture of President Nicolas Maduro.

The U.S. military carried out multiple air strikes on Caracas early on Saturday, after which Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were seized and flown to New York City to face drug-trafficking and weapons charges, according to U.S. officials.

Speaking at a news conference in Florida, Trump said major U.S. oil firms would be encouraged to invest heavily in Venezuela’s battered energy sector.

“We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country,” Trump said.

Despite the plan, Trump stressed that Washington’s hardline stance on Venezuelan oil remains unchanged. “The embargo on all Venezuelan oil remains in full effect,” he said.

The United States imposed broad economic sanctions on Venezuela in 2017, followed by oil sanctions in 2019, measures Washington says were aimed at pressuring the Maduro government.

Trump has repeatedly accused Caracas of using oil revenues to fund “drug terrorism, human trafficking, murder and kidnapping.”

Venezuela currently produces just under one million barrels of crude oil per day, according to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, with much of its output sold on the black market at deep discounts due to sanctions.

At the start of his second term in 2025, Trump revoked licenses that had allowed several multinational oil and gas companies to operate in Venezuela despite the sanctions. U.S. oil major Chevron was the only company granted an exemption.

Chevron operates four oil fields in partnership with Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PDVSA, and its affiliates. The U.S. has also imposed a total blockade on sanctioned tankers traveling to and from Venezuela.

Venezuela holds about 17 per cent of the world’s proven oil reserves, according to the International Energy Agency’s 2023 estimates. However, years of mismanagement and corruption have left the country far from being a top global producer.