Trump’s Venezuela oil policy is showing early results as exports hit the market
Continental Resources chairman Harold Hamm discusses US interest in Venezuela’s vast oil reserves and more with Kudlow.
President Donald Trump’s Venezuela policy showed signs of taking effect this week as the country reopened oil wells closed under a US deal and resumed exports, according to Reuters.
Two large tankers left Venezuelan waters late Monday carrying about 1.8 million barrels of crude each, which could mark the first shipment under a proposed 50 million barrel deal between Caracas and Washington, according to the report.
The ships were heading to the northern Caribbean on Tuesday, LSEG ship tracking data showed, at each point, where oil traders, producers and refiners leased storage tanks before shipping.
EXPERT WARNS OF ‘EXTREME VIOLENCE’ IN VENEZUELAN MINING AS TRUMP ADMIN EYES MINERAL RESERVES
Oil pumps work near Lake Maracaibo in Maracaibo, Venezuela, on July 12, 2024. Decades of mismanagement, underinvestment and sanctions have contributed to the decline of Venezuela’s once-powerful oil industry. (/Getty Images)
The development comes after weeks of oil exports largely halted, following intense US pressure that sharply reduced exports and left millions of barrels stranded in storage.
When exports began, US oil major Chevron was the only company authorized to transport Venezuelan crude under a US limited license, Reuters reported.
The United States has seized control of Venezuela’s oil future after the United States kidnapped Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, leading to the fall of his regime.
Decades of financial inefficiency, nationalization and sanctions have decimated Venezuela’s oil sector. The country produced up to 3.5 million barrels per day in the 1970s, but mismanagement and limited foreign investment have caused production to drop sharply. Production averaged 1.1 million barrels per day last year.
PRESIDENT TRUMP SAYS IT WILL NOT BE A ‘SECOND ATTACK’ THAT HE FACED WITH VENEZUELA BECAUSE OF THEIR ‘COOPERATION’.
Trump has outlined plans to reshape Venezuela’s oil industry as part of his campaign to pressure the administration. (Saul Loeb/AFP via/Getty Images)
The country’s crude output fell to about 880,000 barrels a day last week, down from 1.16 million barrels a day in late November, while the Orinoco Belt saw the largest drop to about 410,000 barrels a day from 675,000 barrels a day, independent figures seen by Reuters showed.
Trump last week unveiled a plan to refine and sell up to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan oil that was stuck under the US embargo, positioning the effort as part of a broader plan to reshape Venezuela’s oil industry with US companies expected to play a major role.
Trump also met with nearly two dozen top oil and gas executives at the White House, saying U.S. energy companies would invest heavily to rebuild Venezuela’s oil infrastructure and boost production.
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American oil company executives met with President Donald Trump at the White House on Jan. 9, 2026. Trump sought support from energy leaders for his plans involving Venezuela’s oil industry. (Saul Loeb/AFP via/Getty Images)
On Friday, Trump signed an order authorizing US courts to seize Venezuelan oil funds held in US Treasury accounts, declaring that these actions would pose an “unusual and unusual threat” to US national security and foreign policy.
The order states that the funds remain the property of Venezuela and are not available to private lenders.
Extensive US sanctions on Venezuela remain in place, and Washington allows only limited, tightly controlled oil sales.
