The United States has struck a major oil agreement with Venezuela that gives a US-led company 100-year concessions over 17 oilfields containing an estimated 65 billion barrels of crude, triggering controversy over the terms and the future of Venezuela’s most valuable natural resource.
The deal, signed in Caracas on Wednesday, represents a dramatic shift in US-Venezuela relations following Washington’s intervention in Venezuela and the removal of Nicolás Maduro from power in January.
US President Donald Trump described the agreement as “the biggest oil deal in world history”, while Venezuela’s interim President, Delcy Rodríguez, called it “historic”.
Rodríguez said the agreement could attract about $100 billion in investment and generate more than $200 billion in tax revenue for Venezuela.
However, critics on both sides of Venezuela’s political divide have questioned the deal, arguing that it gives Washington excessive control over the country’s oil wealth.
“This is a terrible deal,” said Elliott Abrams, Trump’s former special representative for Venezuela and Iran. He accused Rodríguez of giving away a significant portion of Venezuela’s national assets under pressure from Washington.
Under the framework announced by the White House, the US government will work with North American Blue Energy Partners (Nabep), a private Venezuelan oil producer.
The agreement gives Washington significant influence over the company. The US government will have veto power over the appointment of Nabep board members, while a majority of its board must be US citizens.
The arrangement comes as the Trump administration seeks to reduce US dependence on oil supplies from the Middle East.
US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the agreement could shift the centre of global energy markets away from Middle Eastern “choke points” towards the Western Hemisphere.
The deal could also help increase global oil supplies at a time when conflict involving Iran has pushed fuel prices higher.
But the scale of the investment required to revive Venezuela’s ageing oil industry raises questions about how quickly the agreement can deliver results.
Trump has suggested that the agreement could begin generating profits within two or three years.
Energy experts, however, believe restoring Venezuela’s oil production capacity will take significantly longer.
Luis Pacheco of the Baker Institute at Rice University estimates that Venezuela would need about $100 billion over eight years to return production to levels recorded three decades ago.
He also questioned how the investment and resulting oil revenues would be managed, given Venezuela’s history of mismanagement of its oil wealth.
The White House has framed the agreement as part of a broader effort to reassert US influence in Latin America, describing it as a restoration of the Monroe Doctrine, the 19th-Century principle associated with US dominance in the Western Hemisphere.
Critics, however, have likened the arrangement to a new form of colonialism.
The agreement has also exposed deep divisions within Venezuela.
Opposition figures are angry that Washington has embraced Rodríguez, a former vice-president under Maduro, after previously portraying Maduro’s government as a corrupt and criminal regime.
Venezuelan economist Ricardo Hausmann accused Washington of prioritising control of Venezuela’s assets over restoring democracy and constitutional government.
The absence of a clear timetable for elections has further fuelled opposition concerns that the United States has abandoned its previous push for democratic change.
The deal has also angered some Venezuelan socialists who view it as a surrender to Washington.
Rafael Ramírez, a former head of Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA and former oil minister under Hugo Chávez, accused Rodríguez of opening the door to a new era of US colonial influence.
The criticism marks a striking reversal from the Chávez era, when Venezuela nationalised foreign oil assets and fiercely resisted US influence over its energy sector.
In 2008, Chávez famously declared that Venezuela had regained control of its oil industry and would never surrender it again.
Nearly two decades later, a successor from the same political movement has signed an agreement giving US interests long-term access to a substantial share of Venezuela’s oil resources.
For the Trump administration, the deal offers greater access to one of the world’s largest oil reserves and potentially greater influence over global energy markets.
For Venezuela, however, the central question remains whether the agreement will deliver the promised investment and economic recovery, or surrender too much control over the country’s most valuable resource.
