President Trump faces a mountain of hurdles to try and revitalize Venezuela’s oil industry — which has been marred by decades of socialist mismanagement — as American fuel companies are still not sold on the promised access to the world’s largest crude oil reserve.
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 900,000 barrels of oil per day in 2024, about 6% of what the US puts out.
Additionally, the oil companies’ holdings were nationalized and seized twice — once in 1976 and again by Maduro’s predecessor Hugo Chavez in 2007.
Chevron remains the only US oil company allowed to operate in Venezuela. Observers say many oil executives are worried about returning to the country and invest the tens of billions needed to ramp up production — given the history of instability, violence and government seizures. Production plummets under socialism
Venezuela formally nationalized its oil industry in 1976 under then-President Carlos Andes Perez, seizing hundreds of private and foreign-owned assets, including projects run by ExxonMobil.
Exxon, Chevron and Shell were hit hard by the Perez bid for nationalism, with the companies — which accounted for more than 70% of Venezuela’s crude oil production — losing an estimated $5 billion in assets, according to reports at the time.
