US President Trump Says Venezuela to Transfer 30–50 Million Barrels of Oil to US Amid Major Escalation
US President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that interim authorities in Venezuela have agreed to transfer between 30 million and 50 million barrels of sanctioned Venezuelan oil to the United States, to be sold at market price, with the proceeds overseen by the US government. Trump made the announcement in a statement posted on his social media platform Truth Social, emphasizing that the oil will be sold at market rates and that he, as president, will control the revenue to ensure it benefits both the Venezuelan and American people.
Trump further directed Energy Secretary Chris Wright to implement the plan immediately, with the oil to be loaded onto storage ships and transported directly to US unloading docks, according to his statement. The move follows a recent US military operation in Venezuela in which American forces carried out extensive airstrikes on targets in northern Caracas and a special operations raid that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
Maduro and Flores have pleaded not guilty to drug- and weapons-related charges in their first hearing before the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, where authorities accuse them of involvement in narcotics trafficking — allegations both have denied. In parallel, the Trump administration has framed the broader Venezuela operation as a revived enforcement of the Monroe Doctrine and a crackdown on alleged narcotrafficking and corruption, while explicitly tying it to securing US influence over the country’s vast oil reserves.
