Did US seize Venezuela oil? Trump’s explosive statement after Maduro’s capture

US President Donald Trump on Friday (Jan 23) made an explosive statement on Venezuelan oil after the American forces captured Nicolas Maduro earlier this month. Trump said that the US has taken Venezuela oil aboard seven recently-seized tankers, without disclosing further details or the location of the ships. The US president’s remarks come amid rising uncertainty about the fate of Venezuelan oil after the ouster of Maduro and the takeover by the interim leader Delcy Rodriguez.

“I’m not allowed to tell you,” Trump told the New York Post in an Oval Office interview. “But let’s put it this way, they don’t have any oil. We take the oil.”
Trump added that the oil from Venezuela is in American refineries and is being processed. The US has planned to sell up to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan oil at a market price.

“The oil’s coming into the refineries in Houston, in various places,” he noted.

‘We are running the oil’

Trump further declared that the US is running the oil in Venezuela, adding that big American oil companies are going in and taking “so much oil” that it will give Venezuela more than ever before.

“We are running the oil in Venezuela,” Trump said. “Venezuela is going to get some, and we’re going to get some. Then we have the big oil companies going in, and they’ll be taking so much oil that Venezuela will make more money than they’ve ever made before.”

The Republican president met with oil company executives earlier this month to discuss investing $100 billion in Venezuela to repair and upgrade its oil industry, the NY Post reported. He also suggested the Trump administration would reimburse American oil companies for reviving the South American nation’s energy industry. The report added that the officials are planning to use the money from the seized tankers in rebuilding efforts.

On January 3, the US military launched Operation Absolute Resolve, in which they entered Venezuela, bombed Caracas and captured Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, from their presidential palace. Since then, the US has sought to control the production, refining and global distribution of Venezuela’s crude.

What Trump said about Rodriguez

Trump told the outlet that he is happy with Rodriguez in office. “We have a great relationship with the new president,” he said. “She’s been terrific.”

Meanwhile, Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado earlier gifted Trump her Nobel Peace Prize. The medal remains framed in the Oval Office. Trump said that he was still considering where to hang it in the White House.