Donald Trump has announced that Venezuela’s interim authorities will transfer between 30 and 50 million barrels of oil to the United States following a US military operation that removed President Nicolás Maduro, a move the White House says will benefit both Venezuelans and Americans but which critics abroad describe as a violation of sovereignty and international law.

By Kayla Epstein and Osmond Chia | 6 January 2026  |  Updated 7 January 2026


Trump’s Oil Pledge After Venezuela Operation

The announcement followed a US military operation in Venezuela and the swearing-in of Delcy Rodríguez as interim president, after Mr Maduro was brought to the United States to face drug-trafficking and weapons charges, according to reporting by BBC News.

In a post on his social media platform Truth Social on Tuesday, President Trump wrote: 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. He added that the oil would be sold at market price and that the revenue would 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!

Based on current price estimates, analysts cited by the BBC value the oil at around $2.8 billion (£2.1 billion). The barrels are expected to come from Venezuela’s vast but underused reserves, the largest proven oil reserves in the world.

Speaking separately to NBC News, Mr Trump argued that boosting Venezuelan production with US involvement would help domestic consumers: Having a Venezuela that's an oil producer is good for the United States because it keeps the price of oil down.

A press conference image from the original report accompanied coverage of President Trump’s confirmation of a US military operation in Venezuela and his subsequent announcement of an oil transfer to the United States. (Image source: Getty Images, via BBC report)

Reports of Exclusive US Oil Partnership

The initial pledge on barrels of oil has been accompanied by reports that Washington is seeking a broader reorientation of Venezuela’s energy ties. ABC News, citing unnamed sources, reported that Mr Trump urged interim leader Delcy Rodríguez to agree to an exclusive partnership with the US on oil production and to sever or sharply reduce economic ties with China, Russia, Iran and Cuba.

The White House has not publicly released details of any oil partnership framework. Supporters of the administration in Washington argue that an exclusive arrangement would anchor Venezuela within a US-led economic orbit and accelerate investment into its struggling oil sector. Critics counter that such exclusivity could sideline other long-standing partners and concentrate leverage in US hands.

  • Potential priority access for US refiners to Venezuelan crude.
  • Reduced role for China, currently Venezuela’s largest oil buyer.
  • Pressure on Caracas to align with US sanctions policy against Iran, Russia and Cuba.

China Condemns ‘Typical Act of Bullying’

China, which has been Venezuela’s biggest oil customer in recent years, sharply criticised both the military operation and the reported demands over oil. At a regular press briefing, foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning described the US move as a typical act of bullying, a serious violation of international law, a severe infringement upon Venezuela's sovereignty, and a grave damage to the rights of the Venezuelan people, according to remarks carried by Chinese state media and summarised by the BBC.

Mao added that the legitimate rights and interests of China and other countries in Venezuela must be protected and described cooperation between Beijing and Caracas as co-operation between two sovereign states, which is under protection of international law and the domestic laws of the two countries.

Chinese officials have framed the dispute as part of a wider contest over global energy security and the principle that resource-rich states should retain control over how they dispose of their oil and gas. US officials, by contrast, have highlighted what they describe as the strategic need to counter the influence of China and Russia in Latin America.


Venezuela’s Oil Reserves and Struggling Output

Venezuela is estimated to hold about 303 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, the largest in the world, according to data referenced by BBC Verify and international energy agencies. However, its oil production has declined steadily since the early 2000s, following years of underinvestment, mismanagement, sanctions and infrastructure decay.

While Mr Trump has argued in recent days that US oil companies can quickly restore Venezuela’s output, analysts previously interviewed by the BBC have been sceptical. They estimate that it could take tens of billions of dollars in investment and, potentially, a decade to rebuild production capacity to former levels.

Industry experts also note that much of Venezuela’s crude is heavy and more complex to refine than lighter grades produced elsewhere. This limits the number of refineries able to process it efficiently and increases costs. At present, Chevron is the only major US firm still operating in Venezuela under existing licences and sanctions exemptions.

Facilities of Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA illustrate the scale and complexity of the country’s heavy-oil infrastructure, which experts say would require major investment to restore. (Image: Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0)

How US Oil Companies Are Responding

Representatives from leading US petroleum companies are expected to meet Trump administration officials this week to discuss opportunities and constraints in Venezuela, according to US partner reporting by CBS News.

In a statement cited by the BBC, Chevron spokesman Bill Turenne said the company remains focused on the safety and wellbeing of our employees, as well as the integrity of our assets in Venezuela and added: We continue to operate in full compliance with all relevant laws and regulations.

ConocoPhillips, which no longer has operations in the country, is monitoring developments in Venezuela and their potential implications for global energy supply and stability, spokesman Dennis Nuss said, stressing that it would be premature to speculate on any future business activities or investments. ExxonMobil did not immediately respond to media requests for comment.

Energy analysts interviewed by the BBC have suggested that major firms will seek clear assurances about political stability, contract security and sanctions policy before committing significant capital. Even if conditions are clarified, new drilling, repairs to pipelines and refinery upgrades could take years to translate into exported barrels.


Did Venezuela ‘Steal’ American Oil?

In defending the operation and the oil transfer, Mr Trump has asserted that Venezuela unilaterally seized and stole American oil. Vice-President JD Vance echoed that language on X (formerly Twitter), writing that Venezuela expropriated American oil property and until recently used that stolen property to get rich and fund their narcoterrorist activities.

The history of US oil firms in Venezuela, however, is more complex. For decades, companies such as Exxon, Chevron and ConocoPhillips extracted crude under licence agreements with the Venezuelan state. In 1976, Venezuela nationalised its oil industry, creating state company PDVSA. In 2007, under President Hugo Chávez, the government imposed greater state control over remaining foreign-owned assets, prompting disputes with some US firms.

In 2019, a World Bank arbitration tribunal ordered Venezuela to pay $8.7 billion in compensation to ConocoPhillips over the 2007 expropriations. That award has not been paid, leaving at least one major US producer with a large, outstanding claim.

BBC Verify’s Ben Chu, citing legal and energy experts, notes that the phrase “stolen American oil” oversimplifies the situation. Under international law, natural resources located within a country’s borders generally belong to that state, even when foreign firms are licensed to extract them. While contracts and assets can be expropriated—potentially triggering compensation claims—the oil itself has remained, in legal terms, Venezuelan property.

Experts told the BBC that while Venezuela may owe compensation to some US companies, the ownership of subsoil oil reserves has never transferred from the Venezuelan state to foreign firms, making the term “stolen oil” misleading in a strict legal sense.

Sovereignty, International Law and Oil Control

The dispute over barrels and contracts touches on a broader legal and diplomatic question: who has the authority to dispose of Venezuela’s resources after a contested change of power? International law recognises state sovereignty over natural resources as a core principle, codified in UN General Assembly resolutions and reflected in many national constitutions.

US officials argue that their actions are justified by the recognition of interim authorities in Caracas and by legal cases against Mr Maduro in US courts. Critics, including China and several other governments, maintain that military intervention and pressure to redirect oil flows undermine those same sovereign rights.

The debate is likely to feature prominently in multilateral forums. Human-rights and international-law organisations could scrutinise whether revenues from the pledged 30–50 million barrels are indeed used for humanitarian and reconstruction purposes, as Mr Trump has pledged, or whether they primarily advance US strategic and economic interests.


What Comes Next for Venezuela’s Oil and Global Markets?

In the short term, energy analysts quoted by the BBC do not expect the pledged 30–50 million barrels to transform global oil prices. Compared with daily worldwide consumption of around 100 million barrels, the volumes discussed are modest, and questions remain over how quickly they can be lifted, transported and sold.

The longer-term impact will depend on whether the interim government consolidates authority, how quickly legal disputes are resolved and whether US and other international firms commit substantial capital to rehabilitating Venezuela’s oilfields and infrastructure. Political risk, the terms of any exclusive agreements, and reactions from countries such as China and Russia will shape that trajectory.

For now, the Trump administration has framed the oil transfer as both a corrective to past grievances and an opportunity to support Venezuelans and US consumers. Opponents see it as a test case for the limits of US power over another nation’s natural resources. How those competing narratives are resolved—in courts, markets and diplomatic arenas—will determine whether this initial 50-million-barrel pledge marks a turning point or a short-lived flashpoint in Venezuela’s long oil saga.