Trump says U.S. oil companies will invest billions in Venezuela
U.S. President Donald Trump holds a press conference as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth looks on following the U.S. attack on Venezuela, where President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores were captured at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., January 3, 2026.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
US oil companies will invest billions of dollars in Venezuela’s energy sector after the ouster of President Nicolas Maduro, President Donald Trump said Saturday.
“We’re going to have our largest U.S. oil companies anywhere in the world come in, spend billions of dollars, repair badly deteriorated infrastructure, oil infrastructure,” Trump said at a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida.
“Let’s start making money for the country,” Trump said.
US forces captured Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores in a large-scale attack on the South American country overnight. They are indicted on drug trafficking charges in the Southern District of New York.
“The United States will govern the country until a safe, appropriate and reasonable transition is achieved,” Trump said.
The president said the US would temporarily govern Venezuela “with a group”, without giving details.
Trump said oil companies would directly pay the cost of rebuilding Venezuela’s crude infrastructure. “They will be rewarded for what they have done,” he said.
“We will ensure that the oil flows as it should,” the president said. “We will be selling large quantities of oil to other countries, many of which are currently using oil, but I can say there will be much more to come,” he said.
Venezuela is a founding member of OPEC and has the world’s largest oil reserves.
