Donald Trump stated that the US will soon begin replenish the strategic oil reserve with Venezuelan oilcalling her “Venezuela’s gift to the people of the United States.”
The announcement comes just days after the announcement of a massive oil deal between Washington and Caracas that gives the US unprecedented access to development 17 Venezuelan fields with proven reserves of more than 65 billion barrels.
“Athens News” has already examined in detail the terms of this deal in the material “Colonial agreement between the USA and Venezuela: Washington receives 6 trillion, and Caracas… 200 billion”.
“Venezuela’s gift to the people of the United States”
In his message, Donald Trump wrote that the process of replenishing the American Strategic Petroleum Reserve – SPR – will begin in the near future.
He called Venezuelan oil “Gift from Venezuela to the People of the United States” – “a gift from Venezuela to the people of the United States”.
The wording is especially remarkable given the structure of the deal itself. The American state receives 35% in the company North American Blue Energy Partners – NABEP, the right to acquire approximately 20% of production at costas well as a preferential right to the rest of the production volume.
In addition, the agreement gives Washington significant powers to manage the company and veto power over a number of key decisions.
Why does the US need oil so much now?
The US Strategic Petroleum Reserve is at its lowest level in decades.
As of August 21, SPR remained approximately 290 million barrels. This is the lowest figure in about 44 years.
The reserve has shrunk significantly following large oil sales and borrowings in recent years – first amid the energy crisis following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, and then due to a new surge in prices after the conflict with Iran.
In the spring of 2026, the US administration also provided tens of millions of barrels of SPR to oil companies to smooth out rising fuel costs.
But it won’t be possible to fill the reserve quickly
Despite Trump’s big talk, analysts warn that there is a huge difference between obtaining rights to the deposits and the emergence of large volumes of additional oil.
Venezuela currently produces about 1.1 million barrels per daywhile the new scheme assumes an increase to approximately 1.5 million barrels.
This requires rebuilding infrastructure, power grids, drilling rigs, pipelines and processing facilities that have suffered from decades of underinvestment.
The proposed investment is estimated at more than $100 billionand a serious increase in production could take years.
There is another technical problem
Venezuelan oil is mainly of heavy grades, and the American Strategic Petroleum Reserve has historically been created for certain types of raw materials and storage infrastructure on the Gulf Coast.
Therefore, some analysts question the possibility of simply sending any volumes of Venezuelan heavy oil directly to the SPR salt storage facilities without additional preparation and logistics.
This means that Trump’s statement is primarily strategic intentnot a guarantee that millions of barrels will immediately enter the reserve.
Oil is gradually replacing China and Russia
At the same time, Washington is restructuring the structure of the Venezuelan oil sector.
Reuters reports that NABEP is acquiring projects that were previously controlled or developed by companies linked to China and Russia.
We have already written about this in the material “The US is taking control of Venezuelan oil fields that were previously under Chinese control.”.
That is, the oil deal simultaneously solves several problems for the United States: it creates a new source of raw materials, enhances energy security and reduces the influence of Beijing and Moscow in Venezuela.
“Gift” after a military operation
The sequence of events gives Trump’s words a special political meaning.
On January 3, 2026, the US military conducted an operation in Venezuela, during which Nicolas Maduro was captured and brought to the United States.
After the change of power, Washington quickly moved from sanctions pressure to direct participation in the country’s oil industry, and eight months later received rights to fields with tens of billions of barrels of proven reserves.
Now the US President is publicly calling Venezuelan oil intended for the US strategic reserve “gift” to the American people.
Editorial comment
Donald Trump’s phrase about “Venezuela’s gift to the people of the United States” sounds impressive, but raises an obvious question: were the people of Venezuela even asked if they wanted to make such a gift?
Oil is Venezuela’s national resource. However, the decision to transfer unprecedented rights to its development to the American side was made after a forceful change in the political reality in the country and without any direct expression of the will of the Venezuelans as to whether they want to give up part of their oil wealth to replenish US strategic reserves.
Therefore, the expression “a gift from Venezuela” looks at least like a political substitution of concepts. A gift involves the voluntary transfer of property. Here we are talking about a resource, control over which Washington gained after a military operation, a subsequent political turning point and the conclusion of an agreement extremely beneficial to the American side.
If we discard diplomatic formulations, the picture turns out to be much harsher: Venezuela’s wealth is being used to strengthen the energy security of the United States, while the Venezuelans themselves did not directly consent to such a “gift.”
That is why Trump’s words can be read completely differently: not “Venezuela gave a gift to America,” but “Venezuela’s resource was turned into a gift to American society”.
This is no longer a question of rhetoric, but a question of who really controls the country’s national wealth and in whose interests it is used.
Sources: Reuters, White House, US Department of Energy.
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