The US military strike that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife has been framed by Washington as part of an expanded campaign against narcotics trafficking in Latin America. According to US officials, the operation targeted networks accused of funnelling large volumes of cocaine and fentanyl into American cities, with Venezuela described as a key transit hub.
Yet beyond drug enforcement, the operation has reignited long-standing debates over Venezuela’s oil wealth and the strategic value of its energy reserves. The Trump administration has since signalled plans to escalate military pressure on drug cartels across the region, a move that critics say blurs the line between law enforcement, national security, and economic interests.
The tense US-Venezuela relationship, explained
Relations between Washington and Caracas have been strained for decades, shaped by ideological conflict, sanctions, and disputes over energy policy. US officials have repeatedly argued that Venezuela’s oil industry became deeply entangled in sanctions evasion, illicit shipping routes, and organised crime, further justifying aggressive action.
Despite sitting atop extraordinary energy resources, Venezuela’s oil economy has steadily deteriorated. Once a dominant exporter, the country now earns only a fraction of its former oil revenues, weakened by years of mismanagement, sanctions, and decaying infrastructure, according to international energy assessments.
How much oil does Venezuela actually have?
Venezuela holds the largest proven oil reserves in the world. As of 2023, its reserves were estimated at around 303 billion barrels, according to data from the Oil and Gas Journal. That figure places Venezuela ahead of Saudi Arabia, which holds approximately 267.2 billion barrels, followed by Iran with 208.6 billion barrels and Canada with 163.6 billion barrels.
Together, these 4 countries control more than half of the world’s proven oil reserves. By comparison, the United States ranks ninth globally, with about 55 billion barrels, meaning Venezuela’s reserves are more than 5 times larger than America’s.
Globally, proven oil reserves stand at roughly 1.73 trillion barrels that can be economically extracted using current technology, underscoring Venezuela’s outsized role in long-term energy security.
Despite this abundance, Venezuela’s oil exports remain strikingly low. In 2023, the country exported crude oil worth just $4.05 billion, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity. That figure pales in comparison to Saudi Arabia’s $181 billion, the United States’ $125 billion, and Russia’s $122 billion in oil exports.
Venezuela does export limited quantities of refined petroleum products such as gasoline and diesel, but output remains constrained. Ageing refineries, technical failures, lack of investment, and international sanctions have severely capped production, leaving much of the country’s oil potential untapped.
Why heavy crude matters to the US
While the United States is the world’s largest oil producer, most of its output consists of light crude. Many American refineries, particularly in Texas and Louisiana, are designed to process heavier grades of oil. Retrofitting these facilities would cost billions of dollars, making large-scale upgrades economically unattractive in the short term.
As a result, the US continues to rely on imports of heavy crude, even as it exports much of its domestically produced light oil. Reports indicate the US imports more than 6,000 barrels of oil per day to meet refinery needs, highlighting a structural dependency that domestic production alone cannot solve.
What is Venezuela’s strategy?
This dynamic brings Venezuela sharply into focus. Alongside Canada and Russia, Venezuela possesses some of the world’s largest reserves of heavy crude, making it uniquely valuable to countries with refining systems tailored for such oil.
Energy analysts argue that access to Venezuelan crude could significantly reduce US dependence on other foreign suppliers while stabilizing supply chains disrupted by geopolitical tensions elsewhere.
While the Trump administration maintains that the strike on Venezuela was driven by counter-narcotics priorities, the overlap between security objectives and energy interests is impossible to ignore. Maduro’s capture has not only reshaped Venezuela’s political future but also reopened a global debate about how oil, military power, and foreign policy intersect.
As Washington prepares to intensify operations against drug networks across Latin America, Venezuela’s vast oil reserves remain a central, and controversial, part of the unfolding story.
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