Venezuelan oil a key useful resource amid transition of energy
Former U.S. Military Capt. Doug Truax and former U.S. Navy Capt. Brent Sadler be part of ‘Fox Information Stay’ to debate the strike on Venezuela and the seize of Nicolás Maduro, breaking down particulars of the raid on Maduro’s compound and extra.
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Within the predawn hours on Saturday, President Donald Trump introduced the beautiful seize of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, a dramatic growth for a nation that, regardless of sitting atop the world’s largest oil reserves, has been hobbled by years of financial collapse and political turmoil.
Trump accused Venezuela’s socialist authorities of seizing American vitality belongings and dismantling an trade constructed with U.S. funding.
“Venezuela unilaterally seized and offered American oil, American belongings and American platforms, costing us billions and billions of {dollars},” Trump mentioned throughout a information convention at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Seaside, Florida. “They took all of our property.”
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Drivers cross by the “El Palito” refinery at nightfall throughout a stroll across the refinery outskirts Dec. 18, 2025, in Puerto Cabello, Venezuela. (Jesus Vargas/Getty Photos)
“We constructed Venezuela’s oil trade with American expertise, drive and talent, and the socialist regime stole it from us,” he added. Trump added that U.S. vitality firms would play a key function in rebuilding the Latin American nation’s oil sector.
“We’re going to have our very massive United States oil firms go in, spend billions of {dollars}, repair the badly damaged oil infrastructure and begin earning money for the nation,” he mentioned.
Roughly twice the scale of California, Venezuela holds the world’s largest confirmed oil reserves. At an estimated 300 billion barrels, about 20% of the worldwide complete and almost 4 occasions U.S. reserves, that endowment dwarfs that of every other nation.
A lot of that oil, nevertheless, is troublesome and costly to supply. Venezuela’s reserves are dominated by heavy and extra-heavy crude that requires specialised tools, fixed upkeep and superior refining capability, a lot of which has deteriorated after years of underinvestment and expert labor losses.
‘WE BUILT VENEZUELA’S OIL INDUSTRY:’ TRUMP VOWS US ENERGY RETURN AFTER MADURO CAPTURE
Past technical challenges, Venezuela’s crisis-stricken financial system and protracted political instability have additional restricted its skill to transform these reserves into sustained manufacturing. Comparable dynamics have performed out in international locations similar to Iran and Libya, the place turmoil and sanctions constrain output regardless of huge useful resource wealth.
“Venezuela underneath Maduro and underneath his predecessor have wrecked Venezuela’s financial system,” mentioned Diana Furchtgott-Roth, director of the Middle for Power, Local weather and Setting at The Heritage Basis. She mentioned the nation’s communist system had hollowed out its industrial base.
“That’s why Maduro depends virtually solely on oil. It’s the one worthwhile income for him,” she added.
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Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro addresses supporters throughout a rally marking the anniversary of the Nineteenth-century Battle of Santa Ines in Caracas, Venezuela, Dec. 10, 2025. (Pedro Rances Mattey/Anadolu through Getty Photos))
Venezuela’s stockpile, now bigger than these of vitality titans like Saudi Arabia, has turn into a central flashpoint within the geopolitical wrestle surrounding the nation’s future.
Trump has mentioned his administration will proceed to implement its embargo on Venezuelan oil, protecting stress on the nation’s main income.
Whether or not Venezuela’s oil wealth might be unlocked now hinges not solely on political change, however on whether or not years of underinvestment, decaying infrastructure and technical challenges might be reversed, a pricey and sophisticated activity that may require billions of {dollars} and sustained stability.
