Trump says US to use Venezuelan oil to replenish US Strategic Petroleum Reserve

Yasin Gungor

US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that Washington will utilize its newly secured control over Venezuelan oil to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), the nation’s emergency crude oil supply stored in underground salt caverns in Texas and Louisiana.

“One of the things I am going to do with the Venezuelan oil is fill up the Strategic National Reserves which, because of Sleepy Joe Biden, has been virtually emptied,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.

He characterized the Friday deal between Washington and Caracas as a “gift from Venezuela to the people of the United States” and that the “topping out” process will commence shortly.

The current inventory of the SPR stands at 289.7 million barrels as of Aug. 21, significantly below its total authorized capacity of 714 million barrels. The reserve experienced its largest-ever drawdown in 2022 when the previous administration released 1 million barrels per day for six months to counter rising prices, eventually selling off 45% of the stockpile by late 2023.

The Department of Energy has not yet issued technical guidelines for the upcoming transfers.

Venezuela agreement

Trump’s plan follows a transaction on Friday, in which Washington secured majority control over 65 billion barrels of proven oil reserves in Venezuela.

Venezuelan Interim President Delcy Rodriguez, who assumed power in January following a US military operation that captured Nicolas Maduro, confirmed the pact will remain in effect for 25 years.

Rodriguez said the agreement involves developing 17 strategic fields, expecting over $100 billion in private investment and more than $209 billion in tax revenue for the South American nation.

The strategic pivot toward Venezuelan oil arrives as the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important oil transit point, is stranded amid the war with Iran that began on Feb. 28 and is said to have reached a stalemate.