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Snapshot 10:Wed, Jan 7, 2026 5:56:44 PM GMT last edited by JoseMoura

US to 'Indefinitely' Sell Venezuelan Oil

TrumpUS Saysto Venezuela Will 'Turn OverIndefinitely' UpSell toVenezuelan 50M Barrels of Oil to US

Above: U.S. Secretary of Energy, Chris Wright speaks in Athens on Nov. 7, 2025 Image credit: *** GETTY *** Menelaos Myrillas/SOOC/AFP/Getty Images

The Spin

TheTrump's peopleinterest ofin Venezuela willwas never seeabout anycounter-narcotics, ofbut therather upabout to $3 billion value of its oil as Trumpmany will control the moneywarned. Aside from the administration's neocolonialist intentions, theit U.S.makes hasno extortedsense to extort Venezuela for tar-like heavy crude that is low-quality, expensive to extract and difficult to process, while creating precedent for China to seize critical minerals in its own hemisphere, thereby strengthening a key threat.

This is a brilliant foreign policy that makes Venezuela's corrupt regime-linked interim authorities pay civil restitution for their own wrongdoing, providing short-term funding for a plan to reconstruct the country and benefit the people of Venezuela. Furthermore, this transfer is set to disrupt shipments to China and Russia, further breaking Beijing's influence over Venezuela.

Metaculus Prediction

There's a 42% chance that the U.S. will invade Venezuela before Jan. 20, 2029, according to the Metaculus prediction community.


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© 2026 Improve the News Foundation.

All rights reserved.

Version 6.18.0