US gains control of Venezuelan oil

What's happened

The United States has secured majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan crude through a 100‑year concession and a joint venture with private firms, and will receive 55% of output at cost to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The deal has prompted criticism in Venezuela and uncertainty over China’s and Russia’s claims and loan repayments.

What's behind the headline?

What this deal does

• The US has taken control of a majority stake in a joint company that holds a 100‑year concession over 17 Venezuelan oil fields containing about 65 billion barrels of reserves.
• The US will receive 55% of the venture’s production at cost, and intends to use that oil to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

Why Washington is moving now

• The US is acting because it wants direct access to low‑cost crude and to reduce Beijing’s and Moscow’s leverage in Venezuela. Officials have said they will prevent China from claiming revenue from new production and are planning to restructure Venezuela’s debt that includes Chinese loans.

Who benefits and who loses

• The US government will gain long‑term energy security and leverage in the hemisphere. A US‑backed private partner led by Alejandro Betancourt is positioned to gain operational control and commercial upside. China and Russia will lose an established channel to Venezuelan oil and repayment routes for loans.

Likely consequences

• Venezuela’s opposition and some economists are calling the deal predatory and unconstitutional; that will increase domestic political tensions and could delay credible elections. Venezuela’s membership of OPEC is now uncertain and a formal departure would carry symbolic weight but limited near‑term market impact because Venezuela’s output remains low.

Forecast

• The US will push to restructure Venezuelan debt and block Chinese claims to new production revenue. That will force Beijing to negotiate from a weaker position and will likely push Chinese firms to seek new legal and diplomatic remedies. Domestically in Venezuela, the deal will strengthen Delcy Rodríguez’s hold and will increase resistance from opposition figures who see the arrangement as undermining sovereignty.

Bottom line

• This is a decisive reordering of control over Venezuela’s oil resources: it will shift revenue streams and geopolitics in the region and set up legal and diplomatic fights over loans, contracts and OPEC membership.

How we got here

The US has restored ties with interim president Delcy Rodríguez after Maduro’s capture in January 2026 and has been negotiating access to Venezuela’s Orinoco Belt. The pact covers 17 fields and follows months of US pressure to open Venezuela’s oil sector to US investment.

Our analysis

Bloomberg has provided the most detailed chronology and official framing. It reported that President Trump announced the partnership and that a White House fact sheet said the pact will supply low‑cost crude to the US and refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (Bloomberg, Aug. 31–Sept. 4, 2026). Bloomberg reported that Energy Secretary Chris Wright will visit Caracas to showcase agreements and that the administration is considering revoking existing contracts in the Orinoco Belt (Bloomberg, Sep. 1, 2026). The Japan Times emphasised the administration’s stated aim to exclude "malign foreign actors" and quoted Wright saying China won’t have claims on new production revenue (The Japan Times, Sep. 6, 2026). By contrast, The Guardian and The New Arab highlighted domestic and historical criticism. The Guardian called the plan "predatory" and "unconstitutional," quoted critics including economist Francisco Rodríguez and former planning minister Ricardo Hausmann, and placed the deal in a longer narrative about US intervention (The Guardian, Aug. 28, 2026). The New Arab reproduced commentary comparing the arrangement to colonial concessions and cited Fortune and Harvard’s Hausmann calling the pact "shameful" and "colonial" (The New Arab, Sep. 1, 2026). Those sources together show two clear framings: US and Bloomberg coverage foreground operational detail and strategic aims—control of 65 billion barrels, a 55% share of output and an explicit intent to block Chinese claims—while outlets such as The Guardian and The New Arab foreground legal, ethical and historical objections, quoting experts who call the deal unconstitutional and reminiscent of early 20th‑century resource colonialism. Read Bloomberg for the administrative and contractual specifics and The Guardian or The New Arab for the political and symbolic backlash.

Go deeper

• How will China respond legally and diplomatically to lost repayment routes?
• What is the timetable for restructuring Venezuela’s debt and who will oversee it?

More on these topics

• Venezuela - Country in South America

  Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many small islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea.

• United States - Country in North America

  The United States of America, commonly known as the United States or America, is a country mostly located in central North America, between Canada and Mexico.

• White House - Official residence and office of the President of the United States

  The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800 when the national...

• Orinoco Belt - Oilfield in Venezuela

  The Orinoco Belt is a territory in the southern strip of the eastern Orinoco River Basin in Venezuela which overlies the world's largest deposits of petroleum. Its local Spanish name is Faja Petrolífera del Orinoco.

• Russia - Country

  Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country located in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. Covering an area of 17,125,200 square kilometres, it is the largest country in the world by area, spanning more than one-eighth of the Earth's in

• Iran (Islamic Republic of Iran) - Country in the Middle East

  Iran, also called Persia, and officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered to the northwest by Armenia and Azerbaijan, to the north by the Caspian Sea, to the northeast by Turkmenistan, to the east by Afghanistan a

• Marco Rubio - United States Senator

  Marco Antonio Rubio is an American attorney and politician currently serving as the senior United States Senator from Florida. A Republican, Rubio previously served as Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives.

• People's Republic of China - Country in East Asia

  China, officially the People's Republic of China, is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population of around 1.4 billion in 2019.

• Caracas - Capital of Venezuela

  Caracas, officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas.

• Kingdom of Saudi Arabia - Country in the Middle East

  Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is a country in Western Asia constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula.

• Oil

  An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is a viscous liquid at ambient temperatures and is both hydrophobic and lipophilic. Oils have a high carbon and hydrogen content and are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated lipids

• Ricardo Hausmann - Former Venezuelan Minister of Planning

  Ricardo Hausmann is the former Director of the Center for International Development currently leading the Center for International Development’s Growth Lab and is a Professor of the Practice of Economic Development at the John F.

• Axios - Wikimedia disambiguation page

  Axios commonly refers to: Axios (river), a river that runs through Greece and North Macedonia Axios (website), an American news and information website Axios may also refer to:

• Lake Maracaibo - Bay in Venezuela

  Lake Maracaibo is a large brackish tidal bay in Zulia, Venezuela and an "inlet of the Caribbean Sea". It is sometimes considered a lake rather than a bay or lagoon.

• Pete Hegseth - United States Secretary of War

  Peter Brian Hegseth (born June 6, 1980) is an American government official and former television personality who has served since 2025 as the 29th United States secretary of defense. Hegseth studied politics at Princeton University, where he was the publi

• Ukraine - Country in Europe

  Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which borders it to the east and northeast.

• Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries - Intergovernmental organization

  The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is an intergovernmental organization of 13 nations. Founded on 14 September 1960 in Baghdad by the first five members, it has since 1965 been headquartered in Vienna, Austria.