Trump says US to get 30 million to 50 million barrels of oil from
Venezuela at market price
[January 07, 2026]
By REGINA GARCIA CANO, AAMER MADHANI and MEGAN JANETSKY
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that
Venezuela would be providing 30 million to 50 million barrels of oil to
the U.S., and he pledged to use proceeds from the sale of this oil “to
benefit the people” of both countries.
The White House is organizing a meeting Friday with U.S. oil company
executives to discuss Venezuela, which the Trump administration has been
pressuring to open its vast-but-struggling oil industry more widely to
American investment and know-how. Representatives of Exxon, Chevron and
ConocoPhillips are expected to attend the White House meeting, according
to a person familiar with the matter who requested anonymity to discuss
the plans.
Earlier Tuesday, officials in Caracas announced that at least 24
Venezuelan security officers were killed in the dead-of-night U.S.
military operation to capture Nicolás Maduro and spirit him to the
United States to face drug charges. And the country’s acting president,
Delcy Rodriguez, pushed back on Trump, who earlier this week warned
she'd face an outcome worse than Maduro’s if she does not “do what’s
right" and overhaul Venezuela into a country that aligns with U.S.
interests, including by granting access to American energy companies.
Rodriguez, delivering an address Tuesday before government agricultural
and industrial sector officials, said, “Personally, to those who
threaten me: My destiny is not determined by them, but by God.”
Venezuela’s Attorney General Tarek William Saab said overall “dozens” of
officers and civilians were killed in the weekend strike in Caracas and
said prosecutors would investigate the deaths in what he described as a
“war crime.” He didn’t specify if the estimate was specifically
referring to Venezuelans.
In addition to the Venezuelan security officials, Cuba’s government had
previously confirmed that 32 Cuban military and police officers working
in Venezuela were killed in the raid. The Cuban government says the
personnel killed belonged to the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the
Ministry of the Interior, the country’s two main security agencies.
Seven U.S. service members were also injured in the raid, according to
the Pentagon. Five have already returned to duty, while two are still
recovering from their injuries. The injuries included gunshot wounds and
shrapnel injuries, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized
to comment on the matter publicly and spoke on the condition of
anonymity.
A video tribute to the slain Venezuelan security officials posted to the
military’s Instagram account features faces of the fallen over
black-and-white videos of soldiers, American aircraft flying over
Caracas and armored vehicles destroyed by the blasts. Meanwhile, the
streets of Caracas, deserted for days following Maduro's capture,
briefly filled with masses of people waving Venezuelan flags and
bouncing to patriotic music at a state-organized display of support for
the government.
“Their spilled blood does not cry out for vengeance, but for justice and
strength,” the military wrote in an Instagram post. “It reaffirms our
unwavering oath not to rest until we rescue our legitimate President,
completely dismantle the terrorist groups operating from abroad, and
ensure that events such as these never again sully our sovereign soil.”
Questions about the future of Venezuelan oil
With oil trading at roughly $56 a barrel, the transaction Trump
announced late Tuesday could be worth as much as $2.8 billion. The U.S.
goes through an average of roughly 20 million barrels a day of oil and
related products, so Venezuela’s transfer would be the equivalent of as
much as two and a half days of supply, according to the U.S. Energy
Information Administration.
Despite Venezuela having the world’s largest proven crude oil reserves,
it only produces on average about one million barrels day, significantly
below the U.S. average daily production of 13.9 million barrels a day
during October.
The press office for Venezuela’s government did not immediately respond
to a request for comment on Trump’s announcement.
ExxonMobil is developing a mammoth offshore oil deposit in the waters
off Guyana, Venezuela’s neighbor to the east. The company’s major oil
discovery in 2015 prompted Venezuela to revive a century-old territorial
dispute with Guyana and take steps to annex the remote region known as
Essequibo, which comprises about two-thirds of Guyana’s land mass.
The development has also led to wide-ranging accusations from
Venezuela’s government, including Rodríguez, against Guyana’s leaders
and ExxonMobil. Two years ago, Venezuelan lawmakers even considered
banning any future operation in Venezuela of oil companies working in
Guyana.
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President Donald Trump dances as he walks off stage after speaking
to House Republican lawmakers during their annual policy retreat,
Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Earlier Tuesday, Trump pushed back against Democratic criticism of
this weekend's military operation, noting that his Democratic
predecessor Joe Biden had also called for the arrest of the
Venezuelan leader on drug trafficking charges.
Trump in remarks before a House Republican retreat in Washington
grumbled that Democrats were not giving him credit for a successful
military operation, even though there was bipartisan agreement that
Maduro was not the rightful president of Venezuela.
In 2020, Maduro was indicted in the United States, accused in a
decades-long narco-terrorism and international cocaine trafficking
conspiracy. White House officials have noted that Biden's
administration in his final days in office last year raised the
award for information leading to Maduro's arrest after he assumed a
third term in office despite evidence suggesting that he lost
Venezuela’s most recent election. The Trump administration doubled
the award to $50 million in August.
“You know, at some point, they should say, ‘You know, you did a
great job. Thank you. Congratulations.' Wouldn’t it be good?" Trump
said. “I would say that if they did a good job, their philosophies
are so different. But if they did a good job, I’d be happy for the
country. They’ve been after this guy for years and years and years.”
What US opinion polls show
Americans are split about the capture of Maduro — with many still
forming opinions — according to a poll conducted by The Washington
Post and SSRS using text messages over the weekend. About 4 in 10
approved of the U.S. military being sent to capture Maduro, while
roughly the same share were opposed. About 2 in 10 were unsure.
Nearly half of Americans, 45%, were opposed to the U.S. taking
control of Venezuela and choosing a new government for the country.
About 9 in 10 Americans said the Venezuelan people should be the
ones to decide the future leadership of their country.
Maduro pleaded not guilty to federal drug trafficking charges in a
U.S. courtroom on Monday. U.S. forces captured Maduro and his wife
early Saturday in a raid on a compound where they were surrounded by
Cuban guards.
In the days since Maduro's ouster, Trump and top administration
officials have raised anxiety around the globe that the operation
could mark the beginning of a more expansionist U.S. foreign policy
in the Western Hemisphere. The president in recent days has renewed
his calls for an American takeover of the Danish territory of
Greenland for the sake of U.S. security interests and threatened
military action on Colombia for facilitating the global sale of
cocaine, while his top diplomat declared the communist government in
Cuba is “in a lot of trouble.”
Colombia responds to Trump
Colombia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Rosa Villavicencio said Tuesday
she’ll meet with the U.S. Embassy’s charge d’affaires in Bogota to
present him with a formal complaint over the recent threats issued
by the United States.
On Sunday, Trump said he wasn’t ruling out an attack on Colombia and
described its president, who’s been an outspoken critic of the U.S.
pressure campaign on Venezuela, as a “sick man who likes making
cocaine and selling it to the United States.”
Villavicencio said she’s hoping to strengthen relations with the
United States and improve cooperation in the fight against drug
trafficking.
“It is necessary for the Trump administration to know in more detail
about all that we are doing in the fight against drug trafficking,”
she said.
Meanwhile, the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and
the United Kingdom on Tuesday joined Danish Prime Minister Mette
Frederiksen in defending Greenland’s sovereignty. The island is a
self-governing territory of the kingdom of Denmark and thus part of
the NATO military alliance.
“Greenland belongs to its people,” the statement said. “It is for
Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters
concerning Denmark and Greenland.”
—
Madhani reported from Washington and Janetsky from Mexico City. AP
writers Josh Boak, Konstantin Toropin, Sagar Meghani, Isabel DeBre,
Linley Sanders and Manuel Rueda contributed reporting.
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