Overview
- President Trump says Washington will temporarily run Venezuela and invite major U.S. oil firms to rebuild operations using future oil proceeds to cover costs.
- Venezuela holds roughly 300 billion barrels of reserves, yet production averages about 1.0–1.1 million barrels per day after decades of decline from around 3.5 million.
- Industry experts say reviving output would take years and tens of billions of dollars, requiring lifted sanctions, secure operating conditions, and clear contracts.
- Chevron is the only U.S. major still active in the country, while ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil hold arbitration awards of about $10 billion and $1 billion tied to past expropriations.
- Most current crude shipments go to China, whose government condemned the U.S. action, complicating any effort to redirect heavy Venezuelan oil toward Gulf Coast refineries.