(Bloomberg) – The U.S. is in talks with Venezuela to take a large stake in its oil fields, a dramatic move by the Trump administration to extend its influence on the post-Maduro government and the nation’s vast energy reserves.
Negotiators from both countries are discussing the plan, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. Some of them said a possible arrangement that has been discussed is a 100-year-lease on several oil fields.
The talks are ongoing, and the terms of any deal could still change, the people added.
The White House declined to comment. An official for Venezuela’s Information Ministry didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Axios reported earlier that the Trump administration was in talks with Venezuela’s interim government about taking a stake in the country’s oil resources.
While such a deal would mark an almost unprecedented intervention by the U.S. in another country’s economy, it’s also in keeping with President Donald Trump’s so-called Donroe Doctrine of extending American influence in the western hemisphere.
The talks follow President Donald Trump’s move in January to seize President Nicolás Maduro, bring him to the U.S. in January and install a more amenable leadership in Caracas.
Obtaining large Venezuelan reserves would boost U.S. oil supplies at a time of intense market volatility caused by the war in Iran and Tehran’s move to strangle commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
It would also make good on a promise by Trump to control sales of Venezuelan crude and hold proceeds in U.S. bank accounts. Since Maduro’s capture, the U.S. has eased sanctions to allow U.S. companies and oil field contractors to return to Venezuela. The U.S. has yet to disclose how much revenue it has generated from Venezuelan oil sales so far.
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