Trump Admin Seizes Control of Venezuela Oil Reserves Amid Skepticism

The Trump administration's handling of Venezuela's oil resources has been shrouded in controversy. In February 2026, Donald Trump seized control of Venezuela's oil revenues after kidnapping President Nicolás Maduro and installing Delcy Rodriguez as interim vice president.

According to estimates by the Financial Times, the US has collected approximately $18 billion from Venezuelan oil sales since then. However, only a fraction of these funds have been returned to Venezuela, with the majority held in a trust account in Qatar to protect them from US courts.

The Trump administration had promised a boom in US oil company investment in Venezuela, but apart from Chevron, which retained operations before the Chavez regime's nationalization in 2007, there has been little activity. Venezuela's oil production remains at around one million barrels per day, far short of its peak levels in the 1970s and 2014.

To address this lack of interest, Trump announced a new deal with Rodriguez and North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP), granting NABEP 100-year concessions over 17 oil fields with proven reserves of about 65 billion barrels. The US Department of War's Office of Strategic Capital has acquired a 35% interest in NABEP at no cost to taxpayers, and will have the right to buy up to 20% of production from current and future fields.

However, this deal has been met with skepticism, with many questioning its viability. The US oil majors have expressed reluctance to invest due to Venezuela's unstable environment and degraded industry. A change in government in either Venezuela or the US could also jeopardize the deal, which is seen as neocolonialist by some in the country.