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The United States will soon receive 30 to 50 million barrels of sanctioned Venezuelan oil from the South American nation in the near future, U.S. President Donald Trump announced Tuesday. “I am pleased to announce that the Interim Authorities in Venezuela will be turning over between 30 and 50 MILLION Barrels of High Quality, Sanctioned Oil, to the United States of America,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “This Oil will be sold at its Market Price, and that money will be controlled by me, as President of the United States of America, to ensure it is used...

U.S. forces are attempting to board the Russian-flagged Marinera oil tanker in the North Atlantic Sea, sources told Fox News. The news, first reported by Reuters, comes after The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that Russia had sent a submarine and other naval assets to escort the tanker. The vessel, previously operating under the name Bella 1, has spent more than two weeks attempting to slip past U.S. enforcement efforts targeting sanctioned oil shipments near Venezuela, the outlet reported. U.S. Southern Command, which oversees U.S. military activities in Latin America and the Caribbean, said on X that it "remains...

President Donald Trump announced that the “interim authorities” in charge of Venezuela would be giving between 30 and 50 million “Barrels of High Quality, Sanctioned Oil” to the United States. In a post on Truth Social, Trump explained that the oil would “be sold at its Market Price,” and that Trump would ensure the money from the sales would be “used to benefit the people of Venezuela” and the U.S. “I am pleased to announce that the Interim Authorities in Venezuela will be turning over between 30 and 50 MILLION Barrels of High Quality, Sanctioned Oil, to the United States...

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...

...Why Trump Is Likely Referring to Chávez’s 2007 Oil Seizures Based on the wording of Trump’s post, particularly his demand that Venezuela “return to the United States of America all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us,” the most plausible reference is the 2007 expropriation of U.S. oil assets by Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez... The Legal Case Behind the Rhetoric ConocoPhillips pursued international arbitration for years and ultimately won multiple awards... Most recently, in January 2025, arbitration rulings were upheld totaling approximately $8.7 billion plus interest. Venezuela has consistently refused to pay...

January 21, 2022 With inflation at a record high, millions of its citizens fleeing the country, and a political opposition recognized by most Western democracies as the legitimate government of Venezuela, the regime of Nicolás Maduro seemed to be on the brink of collapse in 2019. But Maduro regime survived, thanks to a number of factors — among them the external support it received from malign state actors such as Russia and China. Moscow and Beijing never wavered in their political support of the Venezuelan regime, or of Maduro himself, including by refusing to recognize the constitutionally mandated interim presidency...

EXPULSION Before examining the strategic calculus behind the January 3, 2026, military operation in Venezuela, it is essential to understand who actually makes decisions of this magnitude. In the American national security apparatus, the Pentagon does not await presidential direction on major military operations. The Pentagon assesses threats, evaluates strategic priorities, and determines when military action crosses from option to necessity. The president then executes what the military establishment has already decided is required.

Donald Trump likes to start the new year with a bang – or better yet a series of loud bangs. On January 3, 2020, his first administration ordered the drone strike that killed Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force. Exactly six years later, his second administration has carried out a large-scale regime-change operation in Venezuela, blowing several sites to smithereens and capturing the Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and his wife and flying them out of the country. This after a series of military strikes against Venezuelan and cartel targets in recent weeks and months. There...

Venezuela's interim leader, Delcy Rodriguez, has hurled threats at Donald Trump after the capture of the country's president, Nicolas Maduro, who is now languishing in a New York federal jail. 'Never again will we be slaves, never again will we be a colony of any empire,' Rodriguez said. 'We're ready to defend Venezuela.'

The White House has told companies they must rebuild Venezuela's crude-pumping infrastructure if they want compensation for assets seized by Caracas. American oil companies have long hoped to recover the assets that Venezuela’s authoritarian regime ripped from them decades ago. Now the Trump administration is offering to help them achieve that aim — with one major condition. Administration officials have told oil executives in recent weeks that if they want compensation for their rigs, pipelines and other seized property, then they must be prepared to go back into Venezuela now and invest heavily in reviving its shattered petroleum industry, two...

I am a visual thinker, and I love maps and charts, so I just put this one together. In my opinion, we are moving from peacetime economic trade war conditions to a quazi-kinetic war for the control of the critical natural resources that are needed by the major powers in our emerging multipolar world.So, just what in the Sam Hill is a quazi-war?Well, it turns out that we already fought one. Read about it at the link.Today, the unipolar period which followed the end of the cold war is coming to an end. It’s being replaced by a tri-polar world...

Maintenance problems affecting the Strategic Petroleum Reserve are in the spotlight after oil releases under former President Joe Biden. President Donald Trump pledged to replenish the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve after the Biden administration sold nearly 200 million barrels of its stock — but that won’t be as simple as buying more oil. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy this week that SPR drawdowns under former President Joe Biden resulted in structural damage to facilities. More than $100 million of repairs are needed to bring the storage facilities back to full capacity, Wright...

NEW YORK — Exxon Mobil said Friday that it will wind down a drilling project in Russia in compliance with U.S. sanctions, but said it received a license to keep working beyond the sanctions' deadline in order to complete the work. U.S. sanctions against Russia over its involvement in the Ukraine require the removal of U.S. workers on projects in the Russian Arctic and other select locations by September 26.

Turkish Energy Minister, Alparslan Bayraktar said on Monday that Turkey intends to seal an energy exploration agreement with Syria in 2026 to assess possible offshore energy resources along the Syrian coast.In an interview with Turkish digital news platform GDH on Monday, Bayraktar said that Ankara and Damascus had already signed a general framework agreement on energy cooperation earlier this year."We plan to sign a specific offshore deal in 2026," he said. "After signing the deal, we may conduct seismic research to see what the field offers us".Bayraktar cautioned that the agreement does not necessarily mean Turkey would carry out drilling...

Peak oil once struck fear into policymakers, businesses and consumers as a looming moment when the world might suck the last drops of black gold from the ground, like a straw reaching the bottom of a milkshake. The idea was popularized in the 1950s by geologist M. King Hubbert, who warned that US oil production would follow a bell‑shaped curve and eventually hit an unavoidable peak as fields matured and declined. Climate change has flipped the narrative. Instead of the fear of scarcity, the debate now centers on when demand will finally peak as the shift to electric vehicles (EV)...

Labour’s attack on the oil and gas industry means no new wells have been drilled in the British North Sea this year, for the first time in more than half a century. Activity in UK waters has dried up as energy firms reel from the windfall tax on profits and Ed Miliband’s ban on licences for exploratory drilling in new areas. And analysis of Budget documents shows the so-called Energy Profits Levy is raising billions of pounds less than expected – leading to calls for it to be scrapped to save the industry from collapse. The levy was forecast to...

Three Texas men used shell companies to pocket revenues from hundreds of New Mexico oil and gas wells while leaving the state with cleanup costs for abandoned properties, Attorney General Raúl Torrez alleges in a new lawsuit. The suit describes a complex asset-stripping scheme in which profitable wells were placed in certain companies while non-productive wells remained in other companies that filed for bankruptcy. The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in 1st Judicial District Court in Santa Fe on behalf of New Mexico and the state Energy, Minerals & Natural Resources Department. The suit names as defendants Everett Willard Gray, Marquis...

Donald Trump has said the US will keep or sell the crude oil contained on tankers it has seized off the coast of Venezuela, as well as the vessels themselves.The US president's comments came as Washington continues to pressure the South American country's leader Nicolás Maduro to stand down.Speaking to reporters in Florida on Monday, Trump said of the oil "we're going to keep it", adding: "Maybe we will sell it, maybe we will keep it. Maybe we'll use it in the Strategic Reserves. We're keeping the ships also."The Trump administration has accused Venezuela of using oil revenues to fund...

The United States Coast Guard is seizing a sanctioned vessel off the Venezuelan coast, two U.S. officials confirm to NBC News. The operation is in progress. It was first reported by Reuters. The Coast Guard is taking the lead, both officials said. The U.S. military is supporting with helicopters that are dropping off Coast Guard personnel and observing overhead, one of the officials said. This comes after the U.S. interdicted a large, sanctioned oil tanker known as the Skipper off the coast of Venezuela last week. After that operation, the Trump administration sanctioned six more ships believed to be carrying...

California's gas prices have reached crisis levels—and drivers across the Golden State are demanding answers. This video exposes the complex web of factors keeping California's fuel costs the highest in the nation. Discover how the state's strict refinery requirements, low-carbon fuel standards, and environmental regulations create a perfect storm for sky-high prices at the pump. Learn why California's unique fuel blend can only be produced by a handful of refineries, how the Cap-and-Trade program adds hidden costs to every gallon, and why even minor supply disruptions send prices skyrocketing. We'll explore the refinery shutdowns threatening California's fuel supply, the oligopoly...