With the ousting of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, U.S. President Donald Trump immediately expressed that the United States would “run” Venezuela for an unspecified “period of time,” and perhaps more explicitly, that the U.S. would take a significant role in running the Venezuelan oil industry.
“We’re going to be taking out a tremendous amount of wealth out of the ground,” Trump said following Maduro’s arrest, suggesting U.S. oil companies would benefit greatly from the oil-rich reserves.
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are among six defendants named in a four-count superseding indictment that accused them of conspiring with dangerous drug traffickers for the last 25 years. Maduro was indicted on related charges in 2020. He has long denied all the allegations, and he pleaded not guilty at his initial hearing. Flores also pleaded not guilty.
Some have expressed concern over whether the U.S. is acting within the boundaries of international law, including United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, who raised questions over whether international law has been respected in the takeover. Trump has defended his administration’s actions, describing the operation as a law enforcement action rather than a military attack.
Venezuela holds the largest proven oil reserves in the world, but efforts to extract the lucrative resources face numerous financial and political hurdles.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Venezuela holds the largest proven oil reserves of any country, an estimated 300 billion barrels, approximately 17% of the world’s reserves.
In 2025, Venezuela exported about 749,000 barrels per day, totaling less than 1% of the global supply, underscoring its decades-long struggle to match demand with strategic output.
Plus, its oil reserves are made up primarily of heavy crude, creating greater challenges than extracting lighter crudes, even though it commands a lower sale price.
While U.S. refineries in the Gulf Coast region are equipped to refine the oil, the infrastructure necessary to ramp up oil production would reportedly require billions of dollars in investment over several years. And should political instability remain in Venezuela, American oil companies may balk at having to invest heavily in a dicey political climate.
According to Jorge Leon, a geopolitical analyst at Rystad Energy, the venture would require about $110 billion to increase output to 2 million barrels per day by the early 2030s.
With oil prices hovering near their lowest level since 2021, U.S. companies may find less potential upside in such a venture than if the price were higher.
Low oil prices stem from a surplus of available oil alongside relatively slow economic growth, which has constricted demand for fossil fuels.
Plus, U.S. firms involved in the process would face risks.
Currently, Chevron is the only U.S. oil firm operating in Venezuela, as part of a joint venture with the country’s state-owned local operator. ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips stopped doing business with Venezuela in 2007, after then-President Hugo Chávez nationalized the sector.
After Venezuela was cited for the unlawful seizure of assets belonging to the two oil giants, the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes ordered the country to pay the firms billions of dollars.
To date, Venezuela has paid only a small share of the debt owed to ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips. If the political situation remains unstable, U.S. companies will likely remain reluctant to do business with the country.
Trump expressed confidence that U.S. companies would spend money to improve the nation’s infrastructure and output.
“We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies—the biggest anywhere in the world—go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure,” Trump said last weekend.
So far, the major oil firms have made lukewarm comments regarding the venture.
In its only public statement, ConocoPhillips offered:
“ConocoPhillips is monitoring developments in Venezuela and their potential implications for global energy supply and stability. It would be premature to speculate on any future business activities or investments,” the company said.
ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods bluntly stated that Venezuela is “uninvestible,” and that durable legal protections, functioning legal frameworks and changes to hydrocarbon laws would have to be enacted before ExxonMobil would consider investing billions in Venezuela.
Trump retorted that he would be inclined to “keep Exxon out” of Venezuela.
“I didn’t like their response,” Trump said. “They’re playing too cute.”
Chevron said in a statement that it continues to focus on its current operations.
“Chevron remains focused on the safety and well-being of our employees, as well as the integrity of our assets. We continue to operate in full compliance with all relevant laws and regulations.”
