‘We’re Going to Make a Lot of Money’: Trump on US Control of Venezuela’s Oil

International

-Gaurav Sharma

The
United
States
is
signalling
plans
for
extended
control
of
Venezuela’s
huge
oil
reserves
after
recent
military
strikes
and
the
detention
of
President
Nicolás
Maduro.
US
President
Donald
Trump
has
argued
that
directing
Venezuelan
oil
output
could
bring
major
financial
gains
for
Washington
while
placing
the
Latin
American
state
under
American
supervision
for
many
years.

Venezuela’s
reserves
are
central
to
this
strategy.
The
country
holds
about
303
billion
barrels
of
proven
crude,
or
roughly
17
per
cent
of
global
reserves,
according
to
the
Associated
Press.
Despite
this
scale,
years
of
sanctions,
weak
investment
and
mismanagement
mean
Venezuela
currently
supplies
only
around
one
per
cent
of
the
world’s
oil.

Venezuela
oil
and
US
plans
for
long-term
oversight

In
an
interview
with
The
New
York
Times,
Trump
indicated
that
US
involvement
in
Venezuela
will
not
end
soon.
Asked
whether
American
oversight
might
last
months
or
a
year,
Trump
replied
that
it
could
continue
“much
longer.”
Trump
also
said
Washington
has
built
a
working
relationship
with
interim
authorities
led
by
Delcy
Rodríguez.

Trump
has
claimed
that
US
energy
firms
would
restore
Venezuela’s
damaged
oil
infrastructure
without
asking
American
taxpayers
to
cover
costs.
Trump
argued
that
this
structure
could
help
push
down
international
oil
prices,
create
income
for
the
US
government
and
inject
critical
funds
into
Venezuela’s
struggling
economy
at
the
same
time.

Venezuela
oil
exports
under
US
and
Washington
supervision

“We
will
rebuild
it
in
a
very
profitable
way,”
Trump
said,
explaining
that
the
US
would
handle
extraction
and
sales
of
Venezuelan
oil
while
sharing
part
of
the
earnings
with
Venezuela.
Senior
US
officials
have
echoed
Trump’s
comments,
saying
American
control
over
Venezuelan
oil
exports
could
last
indefinitely
under
a
managed
system.

Officials
in
Washington
are
also
weighing
partial
relaxation
of
sanctions
on
Venezuela’s
oil
industry.
The
aim
is
to
restart
shut
production
and
exports,
but
under
strict
US
oversight.
Plans
include
allowing
some
operations
to
resume
while
ensuring
that
decisions
on
sales,
pricing
and
destinations
remain
under
American
direction
for
the
foreseeable
future.

Energy
Secretary
Chris
Wright
has
outlined
a
two-stage
approach
for
Venezuelan
oil.
First,
Washington
intends
to
move
already
stored
Venezuelan
crude
into
global
markets.
After
that,
Wright
said
at
an
energy
conference
in
Miami,
the
US
expects
to
supervise
the
marketing
and
continuous
sale
of
future
Venezuelan
production
on
a
long-term
basis.

Energy
analysts
warn
that
Venezuela’s
reserves
could
become
more
important
as
new
discoveries
decline
worldwide.
Rystad
Energy
chief
economist
Claudio
Galimberti
has
noted
that
oil
companies
already
face
difficulty
finding
large
new
fields
for
the
2030s
and
2040s,
raising
concerns
about
future
global
supply
and
giving
extra
weight
to
decisions
about
Venezuelan
output
and
US
control.