Will Trump's Venezuela oil deal lower US gas prices?
Trump says a 65-billion-barrel Venezuela pact can ease pump prices while Hormuz stays tight — and the fine print is still thin.
President Donald Trump said Friday night the United States has locked in majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan oil reserves — a deal he branded the biggest in world history and one he claims comes at no cost to American taxpayers.
The timing is not subtle. Average U.S. retail gasoline was about $4.09 a gallon on Friday, up roughly 27% from a year earlier, according to AAA figures cited by CNBC. Crude has jumped more than 24% since the U.S. war with Iran began, even after West Texas Intermediate fell about 4% this week for its first weekly loss in three. The choke point is familiar: only a handful of tankers a day have been clearing the Strait of Hormuz lately, versus about 100 a day a year ago on IMF PortWatch data.
Trump said the Venezuela agreement more than doubles U.S. oil reserves and should pull pump prices lower. Energy Department data earlier this month showed Strategic Petroleum Reserve volumes near 1980s lows, so the political pitch is straightforward — more barrels, less pain at the pump, and a hemispheric supply answer while Middle East flows stay disrupted.
Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, called the pact a cornerstone of national revival. She said it covers development of 17 strategic fields with 65 billion barrels of proven potential, more than $100 billion in investment, and more than $209 billion in taxes for the Venezuelan state. Secretary of State Marco Rubio framed the same package as nearly $100 billion in private investment, thousands of high-paying jobs, and a rebuild path for a country whose production collapsed from late-1990s peaks even though it still holds the world’s largest proven reserves — about 303 billion barrels.
The structure is unusual. A U.S. official told CBS News, the BBC’s media partner, that Washington would keep 55% control of a joint venture with an “experienced private operator,” and that Rodríguez granted a 100-year concession. Trump said Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth negotiated with Venezuelan leaders “through a partnership with private business,” without naming the firms or publishing the full text. That opacity matters. Reserves on paper are not gasoline in Ohio next month. Venezuela’s upstream needs heavy capital, skilled labor, and years of work before sustained export growth shows up in U.S. inventories.
What is known is the household pressure and the strategic bet. Families are already paying war-era energy prices. The White House is trying to answer with Western Hemisphere barrels after the January operation that removed Nicolás Maduro. What remains uncertain is contract enforceability inside Venezuela, the private operators’ real timelines, and how fast any new supply can offset Hormuz risk.
For now, the story is simple: America is trying to replace fragile chokepoint oil with a long-term claim on the largest reserve base in the Americas. If the barrels arrive, pump prices and industrial fuel costs ease. If they stay mostly on paper, voters will keep noticing the price on the street sign first.
Disclosure: This article is general economic and market analysis for public information. It is not investment advice and is not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security or commodity.