Venezuela crisis: Five graphs explain why Trump wants the oil Submitted by Rayhan Uddin on Tue, 01/06/2026 - 16:14 The South American country has a relatively low output, but its vast reserves of high-density crude oil are sought after by American refineries Venezuela has the largest known oil reserves in the world, which US companies may now try to tap (MEE/AFP) Off One of Donald Trump's justifications for the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro earlier this month was the claim that Caracas "stole" American oil. "We built Venezuela’s oil industry with American talent, drive and skill, and the socialist regime stole it from us during those previous administrations," the US president said. "And they stole it through force. This constituted one of the largest thefts of American property in the history of our country." Trump has also said that Washington will "run" Venezuela until a "safe, proper and judicious transition" has taken place. Part of that would include US oil companies aiming to fix "broken infrastructure" and "start making money for the country". But why is the US so interested in Venezuelan oil in particular? And how much untapped oil does the country have in its reserves? Middle East Eye takes a look. 1. Venezuela has more oil than anyone else Venezuela has the highest known oil reserves in the world, at 303 billion barrels. That accounts for 17 percent of global reserves (the oil that's yet to be extracted from the ground). Saudi Arabia has the second-largest reserves, at 267 billion, followed by Iran , Canada, Iraq , the UAE , Kuwait , Russia and the US. Venezuela’s reserves are more than five times those of the US. The vast majority is in the Orinoco Belt, a tropical mix of forest, plains and deltas in eastern Venezuela that covers an estimated 55,000 sqkm. Most of the reserves in Venezuela are very dense and have high levels of sulphur (often referred to as "sour crude"), making it more expensive and difficult to extract and process. Aside from Venezuela, the chief exporters of sour crude include Canada, Russia and Mexico. Sour crude usually sells at a lower rate than "sweet" crude oil, which is lighter and has lower levels of sulphur. As light, sweet crude is easier and cheaper to refine into gasoline and diesel, it is more sought after and demands a higher price on international markets. Chief exporters include Saudi Arabia, the UAE, the US and Algeria. 2. But Venezuela produces little oil Venezuela is not among the top global oil producers, despite having more reserves than any other country. Last year, it only produced around 1 million barrels per day of petroleum liquids (including crude oil, natural gas and other liquids) - about one percent of global production. That output is only a fraction of the country’s capacity, which Venezuela has failed to achieve due to mismanagement, low investment and sanctions. The US is comfortably the largest global oil producer, at 22.7 million barrels per day, more than twice as much as any other country, and accounting for 22 percent of the global share. Saudi Arabia, which has the second-largest global reserves, is also the second-biggest producer. Russia and Canada - whose reserves include large amounts of high-density oil - are the next biggest producers. Trump has said that "very large" US oil firms will spend billions to fix "badly broken infrastructure" in Venezuela’s oil industry. However, analysts have said that this will take years, given the state of Venezuela's oil infrastructure. Regime change in Iraq in 2003 and Libya in 2011 have also shown that regime change does not always result in stable oil supply. 3. The fall in oil output has worsened over time Venezuela was an original member of Opec, the group of oil-exporting countries founded in 1960, which coordinates oil supply between producers and influences prices. During the 1970s, Venezuela nationalised its oil industry and created Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA). Several other Latin American countries, as well as Arab states, did the same, contributing to the 1970s oil boom. In the decades that followed, Caracas allowed some foreign investment in the sector. && For many years, it was a major oil exporter, and by the late 1990s, it was exporting up to 2 million barrels per day to the US. But when Hugo Chavez came to power in 1999, the government ordered that PVDSA have majority ownership of all oil projects in Venezuela, in the process taking over the assets of US oil companies, including Exxon and Conoco. Since then, political instability and low investment in infrastructure have seen Venezuela's oil production drop. Exports were hit massively in 2017, and then again in 2019, when successive US administrations imposed sanctions on Venezuela, amid concerns about a lack of democracy, corruption and human rights abuses. Oil sales to the US fell significantly, and Venezuela pivoted away from western markets. Instead, it exported around 80 percent of its oil to China, with other major buyers including Cuba and India. While Venezuelan production has seen a steady decline, US oil production has increased dramatically since 2010, partly driven by techniques including fracking and horizontal drilling. 4. The US consumes a lot of oil The US is not just the world's biggest producer of oil - it's also the world’s largest consumer of oil. China is also a significant consumer, followed by India, Saudi Arabia, and Russia. It could be assumed that, due to the US’s high levels of oil production, it would not need Venezuelan oil. && However, as the next graph will show, the US is increasingly looking for high-density, sour oil. 5. The US needs heavy oil Much of the world wants low-density, easy-to-refine oil. That includes American oil, not least that produced from fracking. But US refineries, particularly along the Gulf of Mexico, were built to process heavier oil, hence the need to import high density oil. In 2024, 62 percent of US oil imports were classed as "heavy crude" on the API gravity scale (which measures density), 27 percent was medium crude and just 10 percent light crude. This explains why more than 60 percent of US crude oil imports come from Canada, followed by 7 percent from Mexico - both nations are major producers of heavy crude. And if the US can access Venezuela's reserves of dense oil, the biggest in the world, then it will be a game-changer. Venezuela crisis Explainers Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:29 Update Date Override 0