#venezuela-oil

#venezuela-oil

Playacting for journalists standing in an unruly huddle just off camera, Trump asked questions of the oilmen, wondering how soon they could suck the ground under Venezuela dry. "And you're very much set up for the heavy oil, right?" he asked at one point. There was an implicit cruelty behind the exercise. He wanted the cameras to see him place Venezuela on the table like a celebratory goose and start slicing.

After seizures, sanctions and collapse, can Venezuela ever win back Big Oil's trust? US President Donald Trump says removing President Nicolas Maduro is about reclaiming Venezuela's oil. But as Washington pushes for access, major oil companies are hesitating. Why is Venezuela being labeled uninvestable, and what does that skepticism reveal about power, instability and the future of Venezuela's vast oil reserves?

Trump said in the recent order, signed late Friday, that losing control of Venezuelan oil revenue would "materially harm the national security and foreign policy of the United States" by undermining efforts to stabilize Venezuela. The White House links that stability to "ending the dangerous influx of illegal immigrants and the flood of illicit narcotics" and to countering "malign actors such as Iran and Hezbollah." The order defines "Foreign Government Deposit Funds" as Venezuelan government funds in designated Treasury accounts that come from the sale of natural resources or diluents.

You'll make it back, one way or the other, Trump said. You're all going to do very well. Rubio slid Trump the note, which the president held up and acknowledged out loud. Marco just gave me a note: Go back to Chevron. They want to discuss something,' Trump read as Rubio laughed. Go ahead, I'm going back to Chevron! Trump exclaimed, before slapping Rubio on the back and saying, Thank you, Marco!

Relying less on imported oil, combined with the soft global market, gives the U.S.an expanded foreign-policy menu. So if Trump wants to capture Venezuela's leader - or threaten and bomb Iran - he can do it with much less risk in spiking pump prices at home. Catch up fast: The U.S. has nearly tripled oil production over the last 15-ish years, thanks to fracking unlocking vast reserves of oil and natural gas in shale rock formations in Texas and several other states.

Fueling upside, CEO Jensen Huang said there's "very high" demand for its H200 AI chips. He also said any H200 sales would be on top of the company's $500 billion two-year forecast that it shared last year. Plus, as we noted yesterday, "NVDA just announced the launch of its next-generation Vera Rubin superchip at CES 2026, "comprising six new chips designed to deliver one incredible AI supercomputer.

Global oil prices have fallen by more than 1% after Donald Trump said Venezuela would hand over 30m to 50m barrels of the country's blockaded crude to the US. The deal would give the US president the power to sell up to $3bn (2.2bn) worth of Venezuelan crude stranded in tankers and storage facilities into an already oversupplied global market.

American forces' surgical capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, carried out in a daring raid shortly after 1 a.m. local time today, had been planned and rehearsed for months. Informants monitored the first couple's movements, more than 150 aircraft provided cover starting late last night, missile strikes on military installations knocked out air defenses, and low-flying helicopters landed Delta Force soldiers in the center of Caracas.

U.S. President Donald Trump has been very clear that he is going to use the full power and full might of the United States to confront the drug cartels. Maduro is a fugitive from American justice, Waltz said at the beginning of his address. The reality of the situation is that sanctioned oil tankers operate as the primary economic lifeline for Maduro and his illegitimate regime. These sanctioned tankers also fund the narco-terrorist group Cartel de Los Soles.

Reality check: That last threat to "keep the ships" could be complicated in the case of one of the seized vessels, Centuries, which was not under sanction when it was boarded Saturday by the U.S. Coast Guard. Centuries was carrying at least 1.8 million barrels of Venezuelan crude estimated at more than $90 million. China's government condemned the interdiction of the ship, which is owned by a Hong Kong-based company but flew a Panamanian flag.

Cuban officials have denounced the US seizure of the Skipper oil tanker off Venezuela's coast on Wednesday, calling it an act of piracy and maritime terrorism, as well as a serious violation of international law that hurts the Caribbean island nation and its people.

On September 2, United States President Donald Trump released grainy footage of a missile obliterating a fishing boat off Venezuela's coast. Eleven people died instantly. The administration called them narcoterrorists. Venezuelan sources identified them as fishermen. Since then, the US military has conducted at least 22 strikes, killing 87 people, with investigations revealing that the first attack included a second strike to kill two survivors clinging to wreckage a potential war crime under international law.