Trump's Venezuelan Oil Deal: Analysts Doubt Gas Prices Will Drop

President Donald Trump recently announced that the US has secured majority control of over 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan oil, claiming it will 'substantially' lower gas prices for Americans. However, analysts are skeptical about this claim, citing underdeveloped oil infrastructure in Venezuela.

Patrick De Haan, a petroleum analyst at GasBuddy, said that drilling and pumping the oil would take a very long time, with changes to fuel prices not happening overnight or even in months.

Rory Johnston, an oil market researcher, added that Venezuela's vast reserves don't translate into an immediate increase in global oil supply. Extracting significantly more crude from the country would require substantial investment and could take years.

Tracy Shuchart, a senior economist at NinjaTrader Live, also pushed back on the idea that Venezuela's massive reserves will quickly translate into cheaper gas, saying that the easy barrels are already back in production.