Trump administration officials near deal for access to Venezuela's crude reserves
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Trump administration officials near deal for access to Venezuela's crude reserves")
File photo of US President Trump. Photograph: (AFP)
The agreement could be finalised and announced in the near future, which would let the US government secure rights to a set of Venezuelan oilfields that American companies would then develop, with the resulting output reserved for US supply.
Trump administration is reportedly working on a deal to lock in long-term access to part of Venezuela's crude reserves, a move that could eventually help bring down US oil import costs. The agreement could be finalised and announced in the near future, structured in such a way that would let the US government secure rights to a set of Venezuelan oilfields that American companies would then develop, with the resulting output reserved for US supply.
"This is real and being discussed at the highest levels of the US and Venezuelan governments," one of the sources told news agency Reuters. It is reported that a "lease" was under consideration as the legal model to make the deal work. This will make a further auction or tender to allocate each one of the fields among US producers.
Resource-rich Orinoco Belt
A list of 17 fields reportedly under discussion spans newly developing areas in the resource-rich Orinoco Belt as well as established production zones around Lake Maracaibo, some of which are currently run by a small Chinese company operating under a contract dating back to the Maduro government.
The White House directed inquiries to the Department of Energy, while Venezuela's oil ministry, its state oil company PDVSA, and the Energy Department had not commented yet. Venezuela is planning to leave the OPEC oil production group because it strengthens ties with the US, according to a report by Bloomberg.
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Venezuela joined the group as a founding member in 1960; however, it has not met OPEC quotas for years as the country's state-run oil industry has suffered from neglect and corruption. The US has always been at odds with OPEC for its influence on oil prices. At the moment, hydrocarbon regulation in Venezuela, which has the largest crude reserves in the world, does not include acreage leases for oil areas.
