US President Donald Trump has said the United States and Venezuela have reached what he described as the “biggest oil deal in world history”, involving expanded US participation in Venezuela’s vast crude reserves.
“The United States of America has just entered into an Agreement with the Country of Venezuela on, THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
Trump said the United States, through a partnership with private businesses, had secured “majority U.S. control” of more than 65 billion barrels of proven oil reserves in Venezuela, at no cost to American taxpayers.
He claimed the agreement would more than double US oil reserves, increase domestic oil supplies and “substantially lower Gas Prices for all Americans, long into the future”.
US oil prices have risen sharply since the Iran conflict erupted in late February, raising concerns over inflation, Xinhua news agency reported.
Venezuela on Friday also announced what it described as a “historic agreement” with the US government aimed at promoting investment in the recovery and reconstruction of strategic infrastructure in its hydrocarbons sector.
Venezuela’s acting president Delcy Rodriguez said the agreement would help strengthen bilateral relations and facilitate a major flow of investment into the country’s energy sector.
The agreement would allow Venezuela to significantly increase oil production with the participation of private operators, according to a statement.
It said the deal envisages the development of 17 strategic oil fields with a proven potential of 65 billion barrels, investments of more than $100 billion and more than $209 billion in tax revenues for the Venezuelan state.
Venezuela holds the world’s largest proven oil reserves.
Earlier, on January 3, US military forces launched a large-scale strike against Venezuela and seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife before transporting them to New York.
On January 29, Rodriguez announced approval of a partial reform of Venezuela’s hydrocarbons law to allow greater private participation in the oil sector.
(IANS Inputs)
