Venezuela to turn over 30-50 million bbl of oil to US; Washington seizes additional tankers

Venezuela’s state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) will turn over 30-50 million bbl of oil to the US to refine and sell, President Trump said late Jan. 6, just days after the US launched an airstrike in the oil-rich South American country and captured its leader, Nicolas Maduro.

“I am pleased to announce that the Interim Authorities in Venezuela will be turning over between 30 and 50 MILLION Barrels of High Quality, Sanctioned Oil, to the United States of America,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “This Oil will be sold at its Market Price, and that money will be controlled by me, as President of the United States of America, to ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States!”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Venezuela’s Interim President Delcy Rodriguez agreed to the deal because the country “can’t move oil because of US sanctions and the enforcement of those sanctions.” Speaking on Capitol Hill between classified briefings to Senate and House lawmakers, Rubio said the US would work with PDVSA to get the oil on the market “as quickly as possible.”

Venezuela holds the world’s largest cache of untapped oil, with over 300 million bbl of proven reserves. Mismanagement, underinvestment and sanctions have limited production to roughly 1.1 million b/d from a peak of about 3.5-million b/d in the late 1990s, according to the US Energy Information Administration. China purchases a large share of Venezuela’s exported oil.

Rubio said PDVSA asked the US to include the oil the US seized from Venezuela-linked tankers on Jan. 7 in the sales agreement.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem announced the tanker seizures—the third and fourth such seizure by the US in the past month—with a post on X of a video of the military operations.

“In two predawn operations today, the Coast Guard conducted back-to-back meticulously coordinated boarding of two ‘ghost fleet’ tanker ships — one in the North Atlantic Sea and one in international waters near the Caribbean,” Noem wrote.

The US European Command said on X that the Defense Department, in conjunction with the Department of Justice and DHS, seized the Russian-flagged Bella 1 “for violations of US sanctions.”

The Bella I was seized in the North Atlantic, while the Sophia was detained in international waters near the Caribbean.

Pres. Trump, following the capture of Maduro, said the US will “run” Venezuela and that US oil companies would control the country’s oil infrastructure.

Trump and Energy Secretary Chris Wright expect to hold meetings with US oil majors in the coming days to discuss a plan to revitalize Caracas’ petroleum industry.