The Trump administration is in talks with Venezuela to take an ownership stake in the Latin American nation's oil fields. This move is intended to extend US influence on the post-Maduro government and the nation's vast energy reserves.
The deal would provide the US with a direct stake in 17 of Venezuela's most promising oil-and-gas fields, including green fields in the Orinoco Belt. These fields house some 90 billion barrels of crude oil reserves.
This acquisition would more than double US oil reserves at a time when the US strategic petroleum reserve is at a 40-year low. President Trump has stated that the US has already collected more than $13 billion from the sale of Venezuelan crude oil.
Additionally, Venezuela is closely examining plans to leave OPEC. This would deliver a fresh blow to the oil cartel that Venezuela helped create more than six decades ago.