US in talks to acquire large stake in Venezuela’s oil fields

The Trump administration is negotiating to secure a major ownership stake in Venezuela’s oil fields, a deal that would give the US direct access to a significant chunk of the world’s largest proven petroleum reserves.

The talks center on more than a dozen productive oil fields containing an estimated 90 billion barrels of proven reserves. That’s roughly one-third of Venezuela’s total 300 billion barrels, a figure that makes the South American nation the single largest holder of proven oil reserves on the planet.

What’s on the table

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Energy Secretary Chris Wright are leading the US side of negotiations. Venezuela’s acting president Delcy Rodríguez represents the Venezuelan government, which has been in transition since the ousting of Nicolás Maduro in January 2026.

The proposed structure involves a long-term lease arrangement that could extend up to 100 years. Under this framework, private American firms would manage the oil fields, with the goal of ramping up production from Venezuela’s current output of approximately 1.25 million barrels per day.

A deal could materialize as early as September 2026, though significant hurdles remain around the financial terms, security arrangements, and legal architecture that would govern such a sprawling, multi-decade agreement.

Why now

Maduro’s removal in early 2026 opened the door to a new relationship between Caracas and Washington. Conflict in Iran has disrupted supply chains, tightening markets and pushing energy security higher on the priority list for major consuming nations. At the same time, the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve has been drawn down, reducing America’s cushion against supply shocks.

SLB and Hunt Oil signed contracts with Venezuelan entities in August 2026, signaling that the private sector sees opportunity in a country whose oil infrastructure has suffered from years of underinvestment and mismanagement. Venezuela’s production has fallen dramatically from peaks above 3 million barrels per day in the late 1990s.

The bigger picture

A US-backed rehabilitation of these assets would represent one of the largest foreign energy investments in the Western Hemisphere. For Venezuela, oil revenue remains the primary source of government income, and restoring production is the fastest path to economic recovery for a nation that has experienced one of the most severe economic contractions in modern Latin American history.

The proposed 100-year lease structure is notable for its ambition. Arrangements of that duration are rare in the oil industry and would effectively lock in American access to Venezuelan resources for generations.

The involvement of firms like SLB, which brings deep expertise in oilfield services, suggests the US side is already thinking about execution, not just negotiation. Hunt Oil’s presence adds an exploration and production dimension that could accelerate development timelines once legal frameworks are established.

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