Trump says US will refill its petroleum reserves using Venezuelan oil

By Al Jazeera Staff and Reuters. Published On 30 Aug 202630 Aug 2026.

Key points

• The project envisages the development of 17 strategic oilfields with an initial production target of 1.5 million barrels per day, she remarked.
• While blaming former US President Joe Biden, the US president wrote on Truth Social, the social media platform he owns, that the reserve had been created "virtually" empty.
• It is unclear how rapidly the Venezuela agreement could provide oil for the reserve or deliver ⁠any near-term benefit to ⁠US motorists.
• The broader plan additionally includes the development of eight greenfield oil blocks as part of a wider expansion of the country's energy sector.

United States President Donald Trump has remarked on social media that oil from a lately struck accord with Venezuela will be ⁠employed to replenish the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, an oil stockpile that the country keeps for emergencies and that has been drawn down sharply in ⁠recent years to respond to global supply disruptions and high fuel rates.

Trump remarked in the post that the "topping out" process will ‌commence shortly, describing the Venezuelan oil as a "Gift from Venezuela to the People of the United States".

It is unclear how rapidly the Venezuela agreement could provide oil for the reserve or deliver ⁠any near-term benefit to ⁠US motorists. The agreement Trump confirmed on Friday is aimed at reviving Venezuela's battered oil industry, but it will require significant ⁠investment and infrastructure work before production can rise substantially.

After the US drew down its stockpile under both ‌the Biden and Trump administrations in response to global supply disruptions, including Russia's invasion of Ukraine ‌and ‌the current US-Israel war on Iran, the US reserve ⁠held regarding 290 million ⁠barrels as of August 21, near a 44-year low.

In practice, the "historic" accord with Washington to hand over 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan oil will last 25 years and allow Venezuela to develop its oil industry while preserving "ownership of and sovereignty" of its resources, Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodriguez stated in a televised address on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the project envisages the development of 17 strategic oilfields with an initial production target of 1.5 million barrels per day, she remarked.

For context, the broader plan additionally includes the development of eight greenfield oil blocks as part of a wider expansion of the country's energy sector.

Under the accord, $19 from every barrel of oil produced and sold to the US will flow to Caracas, an arrangement that could be worth $209bn per year to Venezuela, depending on oil costs, Rodriguez noted.

Venezuela will keep ownership of its natural resources "while leveraging capital, technology and operational expertise to support the recovery of a strategic industry that has been severely affected by sanctions", she remarked.

After US special forces abducted then-Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and Venezuela's Supreme Court handed leadership over to his vice president, Rodriguez, caracas has been under pressure to act in line with Washington's demands since January.

For now, trump says US will refill its petroleum reserves using Venezuelan oil remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.