Trump Venezuela oil deal claim covers 65 billion barrels, with terms undisclosed
Trump said the U.S. secured majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan reserves, but the agreement’s mechanics remain unclear.
By Maya Okafor · Markets Writer
· 3 min read
President Donald Trump said the Trump Venezuela oil deal gives the United States majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of proven Venezuelan oil reserves. For investors watching energy markets, the key distinction is that Trump announced a claim about control of reserves in the ground, while the agreement’s commercial and legal details have not been made public.
In a social-media post Friday, Trump said the arrangement would come at no cost to U.S. taxpayers, according to CNBC and the Guardian. He also characterized the deal as more than doubling U.S. oil reserves. That comparison has not been independently established in the available disclosures, which do not show whether or how the barrels would count as U.S. reserves.
The administration has not disclosed the contract structure, the fields included, the private companies involved or how majority control would work in practice, the Guardian reported. Those missing details make it difficult to assess who would operate the fields, how revenue would be divided or what rights the U.S. government would hold.
What does Trump’s Venezuela oil deal cover?
Trump’s stated figure is more than 65 billion barrels of proven reserves. Under Securities and Exchange Commission guidance, proved reserves are estimated quantities that geological and engineering data show, with reasonable certainty, can be recovered from known reservoirs under economic and operating conditions in place when the estimate is made.
That is different from a shipment or sales target. A reserve figure describes estimated recoverable oil associated with a reservoir; it does not identify a volume of crude that has been delivered under the newly announced arrangement.
The 65 billion-barrel announcement also differs from figures in reporting before Trump’s post. On Aug. 27, Axios reported, citing two U.S. officials, that the administration was discussing an ownership stake in more than a dozen productive Venezuelan fields holding 90 billion barrels of proven reserves. The Wall Street Journal reported that talks involved 17 oil-and-gas fields with about 90 billion barrels.
At that stage, both Axios and the Journal said negotiations were unfinished. The Journal said people familiar with the matter cautioned that an agreement could still fall apart. Neither report establishes why Trump’s later claim refers to more than 65 billion barrels rather than the roughly 90 billion barrels discussed in the earlier talks.
How is this different from the January oil-sales plan?
The Energy Department described a separate U.S.-Venezuela energy arrangement in a Jan. 7 fact sheet. It said the U.S. government had begun marketing Venezuelan crude and oil products, with sales expected to begin at roughly 30 million to 50 million barrels.
DOE said proceeds from those sales would first settle in U.S.-controlled accounts at globally recognized banks, and that the department was working with interim Venezuelan authorities and private industry. It also said the U.S. was selectively rolling back sanctions to allow authorized transport and sales of Venezuelan crude and products.
The 30 million to 50 million-barrel figure is an anticipated initial marketing volume, not a reserve estimate. The relationship between that January program and Trump’s new 65 billion-barrel control claim remains undisclosed.
This story draws on original reporting from CNBC.
