The Trump administration has announced plans for an ongoing military operation against Latin American drug cartels following the US strike on Venezuelan vessels that killed 11 people on September 2nd.
The United States has complex relationships with Venezuela, a country of around 30 million people, shaped by conflicts over oil, political and security concerns.
Tensions are less obvious than Venezuela’s oil economy. The country holds the world’s largest proven oil reserves, but today it only captures a small portion of its former revenues from its former crude oil exports.
How much oil does Venezuela have?
Estimated at 300 billion barrels (BBBL) as of 2023, Venezuela has the largest known oil reserves.
Saudi Arabia ranks second in the 267.2 BBBL followed by Iran in Canada with 163.6 BBBL in the 208.6 BBBL. Together, these four countries account for more than half of the world’s oil reserves.
By comparison, the US holds around 55 BBBL, making it the ninth place in the world. This means that Venezuela’s reserves are more than five times larger than the US reserves.
Globally, proven oil reserves measure the amount of crude oil that can be economically recovered using current technology, totaling around 1.73 trillion barrels.
Where are the oil fields in Venezuela?
Venezuela’s oil reserves are mainly concentrated in the Orinoco Belt. This is a vast area in the eastern part of the country, spreading around 55,000 square kilometers (21,235 square miles).
Orinoco belts have crude oils that are much more difficult to extract and more expensive than traditional crude oils because they are very viscous and dense. Producing oil from this region requires advanced techniques such as steam injection and mixing with marketable roughness.
Due to its density and sulfur content, very heavy crude oils are usually sold at a discount compared to lighter, sweeter crude students.
The country’s oil production is controlled by PDVSA (SA, Petroleos de Venezuela, SA), the state-owned oil company that manages most of the Orinoco Belt. PDVSA has historically faced challenges including aging infrastructure, underinvestment, inadequate management, and the impact of international sanctions. All of these have limited capabilities to fully utilize Venezuela’s vast reserves.
Venezuela has some of the cheapest gasoline (gasoline) prices in the world thanks to extensive government subsidies. As of September 2025, the price of 95 octane petrol is 0.84 Venezuelan bolivar per liter, or about $0.04 per liter or $0.13 per gallon. This is slightly more expensive than two other major oil producers, Libya and Iran, where gasoline costs around $0.03 per liter or $0.11 per gallon. For comparison, the average price of gasoline worldwide is $1.29 per liter or $4.88 per gallon.
How much oil does Venezuela export?
Venezuela exported just $4.05 billion worth of crude oil in 2023, according to data from the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC). That’s far below other major exporters, including Saudi Arabia ($181 billion), the US ($12.5 billion), and Russia ($122 billion).
In addition to crude oil, Venezuela exports small quantities of refined petroleum products, such as gasoline and diesel, which remain limited compared to their potential due to the aging refinery infrastructure, technical challenges and sanctions.
Why did oil exports decline over time?
Venezuela is a founding member of OPEC and participated in its founding on September 14, 1960. OPEC is a group of major oil exporters who work together to manage and influence global crude oil prices.
In particular, after the establishment of PDVSA in 1976 and nationalisation of foreign oil companies, the country was once a major oil exporter. From the late 1990s to the early 2000s, Venezuela supplied the United States about 15-2 million barrels per day, becoming one of the largest foreign oil sources in the United States.
However, after Hugo Chavez was elected president in 1998, exports began to decline significantly. Political instability, mismanagement at PDVSA, and underinvestment in infrastructure also led to lower production.
Things got worse under President Nicolas Maduro, who succeeded Hugo Chavez. It got worse when the Trump administration imposed US sanctions in 2017 and strengthened them in 2019. These measures have restricted Venezuela’s ability to sell crude oil to the United States, restricted access to international financial markets, and further reduced the country’s oil exports.
As a result, exports to the US have effectively stopped, and Venezuela has moved most of its oil trade to China, becoming the largest buyer along with other countries such as India and Cuba.
Venezuela’s oil exports rise to nine months high
More than three years after no oil shipments, in November 2022, the US Treasury granted Chevron, one of America’s largest multinational energy companies, a short-term license to resume restricted oil production and exports from Venezuela. Chevron resumed some oil production and exports, but only on a limited scale due to strict restrictions on the revenue generated from these activities.
In 2023, the Biden administration continued to renew Chevron’s licenses, allowing it to run limited operations in Venezuela. The reopening of operations was part of a broader strategy aimed at increasing global oil supply and pressureing Venezuelan governments to make political concessions.
The licence allowed Chevron to resume partnerships with Venezuela’s state-owned oil companies, but the scope of the business remained limited by US sanctions, ensuring that the Venezuelan government did not directly benefit from its oil revenues.
After the Trump administration returned in January 2025 and the successful bid for reelection, President Trump issued an executive order in March 2025, imposing a 25% tariff on all goods imported from all countries that directly or indirectly import Venezuela’s oil. The measure was designed to put more pressure on countries such as China, Russia and India, where trade with Venezuela was rising despite US sanctions. The tariffs aim to curb Venezuela’s oil flows into global markets while attempting to economically isolate the Maduro regime.
The tariffs have been a limited success. India’s trusted industry has stopped purchasing Venezuela’s oil, but China continues importing despite the threat of tariffs.
By September 3, 2025, Venezuela’s oil exports had exceeded 900,000 bpd, the highest level since November 2024, reaching nine months high. However, exports remain significantly lower than pre-financed levels.
