President believes the effort could lower oil prices to his target of $50 a barrel.
President Trump and his advisers are planning a sweeping initiative to dominate the Venezuelan oil industry for years to come, and the president has told aides he believes his efforts could help lower oil prices to his favored level of $50 a barrel, according to people familiar with the matter.
A plan under consideration envisions the U.S. exerting some control over Venezuela’s state-run oil company Petróleos de Venezuela SA, or PdVSA, including acquiring and marketing the bulk of the company’s oil production, people familiar with the matter said.
If successful, the plan could effectively give the U.S. stewardship of most of the oil reserves in the Western Hemisphere, when factoring in deposits in the U.S. and other countries where U.S. companies control production. It could also fulfill two of the administrations’ primary goals: to box Russia and China out of Venezuela and to push energy prices lower for U.S. consumers.
Trump has repeatedly raised the prospect of lowering oil prices to $50 a barrel, his preferred level, two senior administration officials said.
But oil prices are already low, with the U.S. benchmark hovering around $56 a barrel Wednesday, and Trump has struggled to persuade U.S. oil-and-gas producers to crank out more crude and help him accomplish his political goals. Many companies see $50 a barrel as a threshold below which it becomes unprofitable to drill, and a sustained period of low oil prices could decimate the U.S. shale industry, which has been a key backer of the president.
“The American energy industry and most importantly the American people and the Venezuelan people are going to hugely benefit from the president’s control of Venezuela’s oil, which was previously used to fund Maduro’s illegitimate narcoterrorism regime,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Venezuela’s Information Ministry and PdVSA didn’t respond to calls and emails seeking comment. The company confirmed in a statement posted on social media that the U.S. and PdVSA have been holding negotiations for the sale of crude oil volumes, with those talks based on a commercial transaction.
Trump and his team began privately engaging with the newly established Venezuelan government with the goal of taking control of their oil supply within days of U.S. forces capturing President Nicolás Maduro.
President Trump returning to the White House.
Some of the talks with Venezuelan government officials since Maduro’s arrest focused on how the U.S. can play a lead role in increasing production of the country’s rich oil reserves, according to people familiar with the matter.
Others familiar with the talks say the U.S. is looking to exert control of PdVSA through a deal under which the Trump administration would work to acquire and potentially distribute the company’s oil, including through past and existing joint ventures with energy giants such as Chevron.
U.S. oil sanctions have curtailed Venezuelan production in recent years by cutting it off from many would-be buyers. China is currently the largest importer of Venezuelan oil, and U.S. control over production, marketing and distribution would give it a large say in the oil’s ultimate destination, as well as a share of the profits for U.S. companies.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a briefing on Wednesday that Venezuela sanctions will be selectively rolled back in the coming days to allow previously sanctioned oil to be sold. The president announced on Tuesday in a Truth Social post that Venezuela would provide the U.S. with between 30 million and 50 million barrels of sanctioned oil. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said at a Goldman Sachs investor conference in Miami that the U.S. will sell blockaded Venezuelan oil “indefinitely.”
“We’re going to market the crude coming out of Venezuela—first this backed up, stored oil, and then indefinitely, going forward, we will sell the production that comes out of Venezuela into the marketplace,” Wright said at the conference. Trump is scheduled to meet with oil executives from Chevron, Exxon and others at the White House on Friday.
The administration’s actions amount to an expansion of its “drill, baby, drill” mantra well beyond U.S. borders. Trump has long viewed increased production and lower oil prices as an economic boon and has made that a priority throughout his second term. The initiative has taken on more urgency as voters continue to express anxieties about affordability and Trump’s polling numbers decline ahead of pivotal midterm elections.
Trump said Monday he believed that accessing Venezuela’s oil reserves was going to reduce oil prices. While consumers could benefit from that, the president’s backers in the oil industry might not be happy.
A macaw perched on a decorated pumpjack in Caracas, Venezuela.
New supplies from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ cartel, combined with fears of an economic slowdown stemming from Trump’s tariffs, depressed oil prices throughout 2025. Drillers, who have for years embraced Wall Street’s demands for capital discipline, kept their spending in check despite Trump’s exhortations and a plethora of deregulatory actions meant to spur drilling.
“Investors don’t care about energy dominance. They care about energy dividends,” said Clay Seigle, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The U.S.’s oil output increased a little over 3% between December 2024 and November, according to the Energy Information Administration, a bump brought about mostly by efficiencies in the oil fields, analysts say—not by Trump’s policies.
By taking over Venezuela’s oil, Trump is attempting to circumvent reluctant drillers. But he is also sending a message to the rest of the world that the U.S. now has a large share of the world’s production under its thumb. In a fragmenting postwar global order, the administration sees American security as linked to oil resources in the Western Hemisphere, said Kevin Book, who heads research at energy-research firm ClearView Energy Partners.
“The previous president looked to tighten alliances to essentially make America’s alliances stronger. And the current president seems to be looking at trying to make America bigger,” he said.
Another challenge to Trump’s plan is the dilapidated state of Venezuela’s oil industry, which has undergone years of underinvestment and neglect. Boosting production would require tens of billions of dollars of investment from U.S. companies, who may be wary of opening their pocket books amid low oil prices. The only major oil company operating there is Chevron, and new entrants lack the relationships, staff and logistical capabilities to hit the ground running. Analysts say it would take years to significantly boost production there.
Conversations about how the U.S. could start executing a plan to leverage Venezuela’s oil are ongoing, people familiar with the matter said. Administration officials have also been in touch with oil executives, pressing them for ideas on how both countries could best make money off Venezuela’s oil, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.
U.S. officials have considered selling Venezuelan oil to a host of distributors and international energy companies, including Mercuria, Vitol and Trafigura, according to this person. Wright said the U.S. is already going to market the crude they are receiving from Venezuela and noted that the administration plans to continue selling the product. The proceeds will flow to U.S.-controlled bank accounts for now, Wright said, and the U.S. will later distribute them to Venezuela’s interim authorities.