The United States now holds majority control of a joint oil venture with a Venezuelan energy company, a deal announced Friday that gives Washington 55% of output from fields holding 65 billion barrels of proven reserves.
President Donald Trump called it the biggest oil deal in world history. He said the agreement secures majority U.S. control of more than 65 billion barrels of proven oil reserves in Venezuela at no cost to the American taxpayer. A White House official told CNN the deal grants the United States 55% effective output of a new private joint venture that will be the second-largest private oil company by reserves in the world.
Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, granted the private company a 100-year concession to operate the oil fields. The venture will develop 17 strategic fields across the Orinoco Belt and Lake Maracaibo, according to Rodríguez. She said the deal calls for more than $100 billion in investment and would generate $209 billion in tax revenue for Venezuela’s government.
The U.S. share splits between equity in the venture’s holding company and guaranteed purchases of oil at cost. Officials said the at-cost oil would help replenish the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and benefit the U.S. military. Current Venezuelan output sits near 1.25 million barrels per day, its highest level since 2019 but still far below historic peaks above 3 million barrels per day.
Chevron already operates the largest U.S. footprint in Venezuela and accounts for a substantial share of current output. The new arrangement is expected to draw more private operators into the country after years of sanctions and political turmoil kept many energy companies away.
Why does this announcement land now, with such fanfare? The timing follows months of talks between the Trump administration and Venezuela’s interim government about U.S. ownership stakes in productive oil fields. Energy Secretary Chris Wright had been discussing plans to visit Venezuela to increase oil production by U.S. firms, according to Axios reporting late last week.
The deal could reshape oil production and trade in the region, with resulting crude directed toward American markets. It would more than double the 46 billion barrels in oil reserves that the United States already controls, according to the EIA. Trump said the plan would help replenish U.S. oil reserves and drive down gas prices.
Who benefits most from this framing? The White House gains a concrete win on energy security ahead of a politically sensitive season. Venezuela’s interim leadership gains recognition and a pathway to revive a battered economy. Private operators gain long-term access to some of the world’s largest untapped reserves.
What would the story look like if the opposite were true? If production stalls, if investment falls short, if the 100-year concession binds future governments to terms they cannot renegotiate? No text of any agreement has been released, according to the Associated Press. The exact timing for finalizing the deal remains unclear, and details are still being hammered out.
Potential backlash from Venezuelan authorities and concerns over foreign control of domestic energy resources remain unresolved. Critics have called the proposal potentially costly and legally precarious, noting that crime and steep logistical challenges discourage energy companies from drilling in the region. The administration has not named the private Venezuelan operator in the joint venture.
Oil markets have spent 2026 wrestling with supply disruptions and Strategic Petroleum Reserve drawdowns to multi-decade lows. Pump prices have stayed stubborn despite federal efforts to ease costs at the gas station. This deal promises a significant increase in oil production with the participation of private operators, Rodríguez said in a televised address.
The venture would become the world’s second-largest corporate holder of proven reserves after Saudi Aramco, a U.S. official said. Venezuela holds 303 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, and the newly formed company will control 65 billion of those barrels. That slice represents roughly one-fifth of the OPEC nation’s world-leading total.
Trump said the agreement was negotiated by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, working closely with Rodríguez. He posted the announcement on social media late Friday, calling it historic and saying it would lower gas prices for Americans.
The State Department and Pentagon negotiated the agreement, which gives the U.S. an effective 55% share of output from the new private joint venture. The U.S. government will retain 55% control of the joint venture with an experienced private operator in Venezuela, a U.S. official told the BBC’s partner CBS News.
What happens next depends on how quickly reserves could be drilled and who pays to make it happen. Energy companies have been reluctant to commit capital without clearer legal protections and security guarantees. The interim government in Venezuela has sought private investment to rebuild its oil industry after years of decline.
This move could significantly alter the dynamics of oil production and trade in the region, impacting energy security and political relations between the U.S. and Venezuela. It hands U.S. interests majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of proven Venezuelan reserves while unlocking private investment aimed at rebuilding a battered industry.
The agreement will allow for a significant increase in oil production with the participation of private operators, Rodríguez said. She called the deal a 25-year bilateral project to develop 17 strategic oilfields with a production target of more than 1.5 million barrels per day.
For now, the United States has entered a deal to take majority ownership in a joint oil venture with a Venezuelan energy company. The rest waits on rigs, pipes, and the willingness of private capital to move into a place that has tested that willingness for years.