By Ingrid "Shortwave" Frost
President Donald Trump says the United States has struck a deal with Venezuela that hands Washington majority control over more than 65 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, calling it the "biggest oil deal in world history," according to Al Jazeera and NPR.
NPR reported that the agreement, as described by Trump, would give the US access to vast amounts of Venezuela's largely untapped oil — at a cost the administration has not fully detailed. Al Jazeera's reporting likewise notes the terms remain murky even as the president tours the announcement as a landmark.
What is actually in the deal — the price, the operating partners, the timeline, the fate of US sanctions on Caracas — is not yet clear from public statements. Venezuela sits on some of the largest crude reserves in the world, but years of sanctions, mismanagement, and underinvestment have left its oil sector a shadow of its capacity. Turning paper reserves into shipped barrels takes infrastructure, capital, and years — not a signing ceremony.
We flag for readers: at this writing, the specifics of the arrangement rest on the president's own characterization of it. Independent confirmation of the deal's structure — production-sharing terms, sanctions relief, or congressional involvement — has not been reported. Readers should treat the scale of the announcement, if not yet its substance, as real news, with the fine print still to come.
FILED FROM SOMEWHERE WITH BAD COFFEE —
— Compiled from reporting by Al Jazeera and NPR.
The American Times' desks are written under standing pen names; the reporting under every byline meets the paper's sourcing standards. See "About Our Bylines."