Posted on 01/06/2026 4:37:07 AM PST by dennisw
President Trump has made clear he wants to revitalize Venezuela’s oil industry so he can use the cash to make the country great again — but the sector is in shambles after decades of plunder, talent flight and negligence as a result of socialist rule.
After capturing Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro over the weekend, Trump vowed that US companies would soon tap into the nation’s rich oil reserves, which Caracas says hold about 303 billion barrels worth of petrol, roughly 17% of the world’s supply.
Production has plummeted since hitting a high in 1997 — and the country produced just 900,000 barrels of oil per day in 2024, about 6% of what the US puts out.
Additionally, the oil companies’ holdings were nationalized and seized twice — once in 1976 and again by Maduro’s predecessor Hugo Chavez in 2007.
Production plummets under socialism Venezuela formally nationalized its oil industry in 1976 under then-President Carlos Andes Perez, seizing hundreds of private and foreign-owned assets, including projects run by ExxonMobil.
Exxon, Chevron and Shell were hit hard by the Perez bid for nationalism, with the companies — which accounted for more than 70% of Venezuela’s crude oil production — losing an estimated $5 billion in assets, according to reports at the time.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
In other words we should get back into the nation building business.
El Socialismo is very very bad for a competently run oil industry. Under idiots Maduro -Chavez the hack run oil industry, has flared off so much natgas... that the oil pressures have dropped in their heavy=sour oil fields.
The higher the oil field’s pressure, the easier it is to lift it to the top.
More like they are telling you this so you overlook the billions China has already invested in the oil fields of Venezuela.
In Trump we trust, all others must pay cash.
“More like they are telling you this so you overlook the billions China has already invested in the oil fields of Venezuela.”
Who is “you” Kemosabe?
“Who is “you” Kemosabe?”
The people who would see the US taking oil fields that China has already spent billions upgrading, then blowing smoke about dilapidated field, as a little too blatant of a theft.
The US does not need the oil. Venezuela was within missile and drone reach of the Gulf of America where those devices could hamstring the US and the Navy if a fight broke out with the CCP. The idea was to eliminate the intelligence and strategic value of a Chinese base in Venezuela. Mission Accomplished. I’m sure nobody wants Venezuela to continue to be the septic tank it is, but if it does, it won’t matter to the US.
The world’s oil companies will be more than happy to invest in their former wells. They’ll employ Venezuelans. Venezuela will thus recover. No taxpayer money need be used.
And before you start talking about how Venezuela owes the USA oil, keep in mind Trump has been breaking signed deals and lease & etc. like it was a new style.
Most Vz oil reserves are “heavy” oil and very expensive to produce.
Bottom line, this is really about the a welcome change in vision to our hemisphere and keeping our enemies, Russia, China, Iran etc from taking up residence in neighboring countries hostile to us. It is every bit about defense and vital national security interests. Oil is a nice touch after the fact and drugs are a convenient legal justification but this does not happen without the America First focus on vital national security interests in our neighborhood.
You seem concerned that Venzuela and China are being treated unfairly.
“You seem concerned that Venzuela and China are being treated unfairly.”
I’m concerned, deeply concerned, that American law is crumbling when the foundations of said laws are being blatantly ignored(like Constitutional protections while asserting the dominance of American law on the high seas and in the sovereign country of Venezuela”)in an ongoing Evolution where the Law is meaningless and has been replaced by the judgement of greedy, corrupt Politicians and the man Donald Trump, who apparently has no controlling legal authority..
Those oil field leases and equipment belonged to US oil companies before Chavez took them and booted the companies out. China is profiting off of American assets.
Trump is creating an atmosphere for the US companies to go back in and reclaim their rigs and leases.
He’s also kicking the Chicoms, Russians, and Iranians out of our backyard.
EC
“Those oil field leases and equipment belonged to US oil companies before Chavez took them and booted the companies out. China is profiting off of American assets.”
Maybe the people of Venezuela decided that the prior deal was either made with complaint(read bribed) former Ruler and decided to annul the deal in the name of national security just as Trump has done.
Thanks for that. I knew that the American companies had an ownership claim but did not know the connection.
Around 60+ years ago I had a new instructor in my construction management classes. He was hired by the engineering school to teach the classes.
He had been working for ESSO (Chevron) in the Venezuelan oil fields.
Trump blocks HieFo chip deal with Emcore over security concerns
and lets not forget forcing the sale of tiktok
The CCP was subverting, infiltrating, worming their way into Venezuela. In an attempt to make Venezuela into ther satrap, dependent on them. If they lose billions on their efforts I couldn't care less. Your Bad Vlad has been doing the same, so screw him too.
This is the Monroe Doctrine, that I pray that Trump is able to enforce, despite the DemocRats in DC.
Good going by Trump!!!
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President Donald Trump is blocking HieFo Corp. from acquiring semiconductor-related assets from Emcore Corp., citing national security reasons.
The order, released Friday, notes that HieFo, a Delaware-based company, was organized and is controlled by a Chinese citizen and targets the firm’s acquisition of “assets comprising the digital chips and related wafer design, fabrication, and processing businesses of” Emcore.
The companies in 2024 announced that they had completed a deal to sell New Jersey-based Emcore’s chips business and indium phosphide wafer fabrication operations for $2.92 million.
Trump’s order says that deal “threatens to impair the national security of the United States,” the latest move by the administration aimed at cracking down on Chinese access to advanced semiconductor technologies.
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