Trump Wants Venezuela's Oil. Getting It Might Not Be So Simple

The Trump administration has expressed a strong interest in accessing Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, linking the capture of Nicolás Maduro to control over the country’s oil wealth. President Trump envisions major U.S. oil companies investing billions to repair Venezuela’s deteriorated oil infrastructure and significantly boost production. However, experts highlight significant challenges, including Venezuela’s declining oil output since the 1990s, the impact of U.S. sanctions, and the current oversupplied global oil market, which complicate the feasibility and attractiveness of such a venture for American companies. Venezuela, despite holding some of the world’s largest oil reserves, has seen production fall from over 3 million barrels per day in the late 1990s to about 1.3 million barrels per day in 2018, exacerbated by nationalization and sanctions. Trump’s approach, influenced by his “drill, baby, drill” philosophy and a simplistic view of energy geopolitics, assumes that controlling Venezuela’s leadership equates