the news now
This is a new development in a story we have covered before · earlier coverage

Trump Announces Historic Oil Agreement with Venezuela for 65 Billion Barrels

morning · · thread: US Refineries Now Process Half of Venezuelan Oil Output as Production Deals Loom

28 sources across 18 countries · 1 of them is linked to a state

Who reported this

  • Der Spiegel Germany · Centre-left · ~50% staff-owned
  • Sueddeutsche Zeitung Germany · Centre-left · Sudwestdeutsche Medien Holding
  • Deutsche Welle Germany · Centre · Public · German federal public-law corporation
  • Frankfurter Allgemeine Germany · Centre-right · FAZIT-Stiftung (foundation)
  • MS NOW United States · Left · Versant (spun off from NBCUniversal)
  • CNN United States · Centre-left · Warner Bros. Discovery
  • Associated Press United States · Centre · Non-profit news cooperative
  • Bloomberg United States · Centre · Bloomberg L.P. (Michael Bloomberg)
  • The Guardian United Kingdom · Centre-left · Scott Trust Limited
  • BBC News United Kingdom · Centre · Public · Licence fee, royal charter
  • Reuters United Kingdom · Centre · Thomson Reuters Corporation
  • CNN Brasil Brazil · Centre · Rubens Menin (MRV)
  • Folha de S.Paulo Brazil · Centre · Grupo Folha (Frias family)
  • ANSA Italy · Centre · Publisher cooperative
  • Corriere della Sera Italy · Centre-right · RCS MediaGroup (Cairo Communication)
  • The Daily Star Bangladesh · Centre · Mediaworld Ltd
  • La Tercera Chile · Centre-right · Copesa (Saieh family)
  • El Espectador Colombia · Centre-left · Grupo Santo Domingo
  • Le Monde France · Centre-left · Fonds pour l'independance de la presse
  • South China Morning Post Hong Kong · Centre-right · Alibaba Group
  • The Indian Express India · Centre · Indian Express Group (Goenka family)
  • Tempo English Indonesia · Centre-left · PT Tempo Inti Media
  • Asahi Shimbun Japan · Centre-left · Asahi Shimbun Company (family and employee held)
  • NRC Netherlands · Centre · Mediahuis
  • Dawn Pakistan · Centre-left · Pakistan Herald Publications (Haroon family)
  • Rappler Philippines · Centre-left · Rappler Inc, staff-held
  • Al Jazeera Qatar · Centre-left · State-affiliated · Qatari government funded
  • El Pais Spain · Centre-left · Grupo PRISA

What the colours mean

  • Left
  • Centre-left
  • Centre
  • Centre-right
  • Right
  • A hatched block means the outlet is affiliated with, or controlled by, a state.

Political lean describes where an outlet sits within the politics of its own country. It is never a position on a single global scale.

Political lean is comparable inside one country and not across them, which is why the bar groups by country first. Publicly funded broadcasters are not marked as state-linked.

The owner of each outlet is listed as a matter of record, not as a judgement about the outlet.

President Donald Trump announced on Friday that the United States has reached an agreement with Venezuela to secure majority control over more than 65 billion barrels of the South American country's proven oil reserves. Trump described the arrangement as the biggest oil deal in world history, stating that it would more than double U.S. oil reserves and lower gasoline prices for Americans at no cost to the taxpayer. The deal was negotiated by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in collaboration with Venezuela's interim President, Delcy Rodriguez.

Interim President Rodriguez welcomed the agreement, stating it would have a significant impact on the rebirth of Venezuela. She noted that the deal involves the development of 17 strategic oil fields, an investment of over 100 billion dollars in private capital, and more than 209 billion dollars in tax revenue for the Venezuelan state. Some reports indicate the U.S. will hold a 55 percent share of output through a private joint venture with 100 year concessions, though the official text of the agreement has not been released.

The announcement follows the capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by U.S. special forces in January. Maduro is currently detained in New York facing federal charges of narcoterrorism and drug trafficking. The deal comes as the Trump administration faces domestic pressure over high fuel prices and a Strategic Petroleum Reserve that has fallen to its lowest level in approximately 44 years due to the ongoing conflict with Iran.

Analysts and legal experts have raised questions regarding the feasibility of the deal. Some point out that Venezuela's reserves consist largely of extra heavy crude that requires significant technical investment and infrastructure to extract. Others question the legal basis of the agreement under the Venezuelan constitution and hydrocarbons law, noting that there is no precedent for the U.S. government to hold such a lease.

How each side framed it

Left
This outlet highlighted the scale of the venture and the specific percentage of control the U.S. government would exercise over the reserves.
Centre-left
These outlets focused on the domestic pressure of gas prices and the legal controversies surrounding the capture of Maduro.
Centre
These outlets provided a balanced overview of the economic benefits and the technical challenges of extracting heavy crude.
Centre-right
These outlets emphasized the strategic victory for U.S. energy security and the potential for economic reconstruction in Venezuela.

Sources

100% of the statements in this article were traced back to the source articles listed above.