Is an Oil Bonanza Next for Venezuela?

By
Richard C. Young
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President Donald Trump monitors U.S. military operations in Venezuela, from Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, on Saturday, January 3, 2026. (Official White House Photo by Molly Riley)

America’s big oil titans are still smarting from the nationalization of their assets by Venezuela, and with what appears to be regime change and better relations with the United States on the horizon, it’s possible they could get them back. President Trump said on Saturday, “We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies — the biggest anywhere in the world — go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure — the oil infrastructure — and start making money for the country.”

Vice President Vance addressed some points about Venezuela, including its drug trafficking activities and its nationalization of oil assets, in a post on X.com. He wrote:

You see a lot claims that Venezuela has nothing to do with drugs because most of the fentanyl comes from elsewhere. I want to address this:

First off, fentanyl isn’t the only drug in the world and there is still fentanyl coming from Venezuela (or at least there was).

Second, cocaine, which is the main drug trafficked out of Venezuela, is a profit center for all of the Latin America cartels. If you cut out the money from cocaine (or even reduce it) you substantially weaken the cartels overall. Also, cocaine is bad too!

Third, yes, a lot of fentanyl is coming out of Mexico. That continues to be a focus of our policy in Mexico and is a reason why President Trump shut the border on day one.

Fourth, I see a lot of criticism about oil. About 20 years ago, Venezuela expropriated American oil property and until recently used that stolen property to get rich and fund their narcoterrorist activities. I understand the anxiety over the use of military force, but are we just supposed to allow a communist to steal our stuff in our hemisphere and do nothing? Great powers don’t act like that.

The United States, thanks to President Trump’s leadership, is a great power again. Everyone should take note.

In a press conference, Trump told reporters, “We’re in the oil business. We’ll be selling large amounts of oil to other countries.”

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