US Media: Trump Administration Seeks Major Stake in Venezuela's Oil Sector, Sparking Fierce Backlash

Multiple US media outlets reported this week that President Donald Trump's administration is preparing to secure a major stake in Venezuela's vast oil fields, immediately drawing fierce backlash. Critics have branded the move as “predatory” and “unconstitutional.”

Venezuela holds the world's largest proven crude oil reserves, estimated at around 303 billion barrels, compared to Saudi Arabia's 268 billion and Iran's 208 billion.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump officials are in “advanced negotiations” with Venezuelan authorities to gain “direct ownership stakes in more than a dozen oil fields” holding roughly 90 billion barrels—nearly a third of Venezuela's energy reserves. A source told Reuters: “This is real and being discussed at the highest levels of the US and Venezuelan governments.” The fields under discussion are located in the Orinoco Belt and Lake Maracaibo region.

Axios cited an unnamed official who called the potential deal a “legacy-defining moment for President Trump,” adding, “Calling this deal huge is an understatement… It’s enormous.” Meanwhile, Bloomberg, citing sources familiar with the talks, said one option under discussion is a 100-year lease agreement for certain oil fields.

The reports have triggered anxiety and anger among Venezuela's opposition, already frustrated that the Trump administration has not delivered real political change after the capture of former President Nicolás Maduro. Since a January raid in Caracas, Venezuela has been led by Delcy Rodríguez—Maduro's former vice president and oil minister—as interim president. Other key Maduro regime officials remain in power, including Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who is cooperating with US officials despite a $25 million bounty over alleged drug trafficking. Exiled opposition leader María Corina Machado, widely believed to have won the 2024 presidential election, remains sidelined.

Ricardo Hausmann, an exiled former minister and opposition supporter, wrote on X: “An illegitimate interim government with an illegitimate oil law has no standing to sign this unconstitutional deal. This would be a failure for all parties involved.”

Economist Francisco Rodríguez urged Venezuela's congress to reject what he called a “predatory” agreement: “Handing Venezuela's oil wealth to the US violates the constitution and does not benefit the Venezuelan people—especially when done at gunpoint.” Veteran journalist Luz Mely Reyes sarcastically dubbed the “surrender” of Venezuela's natural resources as “the deal of the century.”

Energy historian Gregory Brew of the Eurasia Group predicted “quite a bit of skepticism and opposition to any deal that gives the US government effective control over Venezuela's resources.” He noted the reported agreement reminded him of how BP, formerly the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, controlled oil resources in Iraq and Iran in the early 20th century. “Anglo-Persian was granted a concession by the Shah of Iran in 1901… in exchange for what was essentially bribes to the Persian government, and it granted the company sweeping rights. The company had near-total control over any oil found and could keep almost all the profits from any oil they discovered, extracted, and exported.”

“From Trump’s perspective, controlling oil is an end in itself,” Brew added. “But if you try to rationalize it, I think US dominance over Venezuela’s reserves allows the US to treat those reserves as its own: a source of oil the US can tap and no one else can access. I think that’s how this administration is envisioning it—shutting out China, shutting out Russia, but also shutting out other potential customers of Venezuelan oil. It sounds colonial because it is.”

The post-Maduro transformation of Venezuela into what many call a “US protectorate” is the most striking move in Trump’s campaign to reassert Washington’s influence in Latin America, part of the so-called “Donroe Doctrine.” That policy is a 21st-century adaptation of the 19th-century Monroe Doctrine, under which President James Monroe sought to keep European powers out of the Americas. Trump’s version focuses on countering China’s growing presence in the region and imposing US will through economic and military pressure.

Maduro’s downfall has brought some changes to Venezuela, with hundreds of political prisoners freed under Rodríguez and discussions underway on reforming the regime-controlled supreme court. However, no date has been set for new presidential elections, and Machado remains unable to return from exile. “Delcy is doing a very good job,” Trump told reporters last week, claiming Venezuela is “not really ready” for a vote.