Mon, 16 Feb 2026

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 Trump has big plans for Venezuela's oil but are they feasible?

The US president wants American energy firms to start extracting the crude but they are reluctant.

* Venezuela's state-owned oil company, PDVSA, is in a "paralysed" state due to years of mismanagement and neglect
* The country has reportedly 300 billion barrels of oil reserves, but its production levels have plummeted in recent years
* US energy companies are hesitant to invest due to the risks involved, including equipment degradation and potential expropriation by the Venezuelan government
* Trump's plan to revive Venezuela's oil sector is seen as a "big business opportunity", but experts doubt whether it will materialise due to various challenges
* The current state of PDVSA makes it difficult for US firms to restore infrastructure and ramp up sales, which would require significant investment of at least $100bn
* Analysts question the true size of Venezuela's oil reserves and suggest that high oil prices in the past inflated the reported figures
* Venezuela's oil is of poorer quality than Saudi Arabia's, making it more difficult to extract and refine
* The country's economic crisis has led to a massive exodus of skilled engineers who are now plying their trade elsewhere
* US firms have previously been bitten by Venezuela when their assets were seized in 2007, which could deter future investment
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