Overview
- President Nicolás Maduro is in U.S. custody following a U.S. military operation announced by President Trump.
- Trump says the U.S. will temporarily run parts of Venezuela and bring in major American oil firms to invest billions, with costs recouped from oil revenues, while a tanker blockade and an embargo on Venezuelan crude remain in force.
- Venezuela’s reserves are largely ultra‑heavy Orinoco crude that needs diluents and specialized upgrading, and decades of expropriation, decay, and sanctions have left infrastructure and capacity severely degraded.
- Industry experts expect any meaningful output recovery to take five to seven years or longer and require tens of billions of dollars, with security, legal claims, and sanctions posing major hurdles to new investment.
- Chevron is the only U.S. major currently licensed to operate in the country as other companies weigh unresolved arbitration claims and governance risks, and near‑term market impact is seen as limited given Venezuela’s sub‑1 million bpd output and global oversupply.