Trump hails 'historic' deal for US to control 65bn barrels of Venezuela's oil

The US has struck a deal with Venezuela to control more than 65 billion barrels of its proven oil reserves, Donald Trump announced.

The US president wrote that the agreement would more than double American oil reserves and "substantially lower Gas Prices for all Americans".

Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodríguez hailed the deal as one that would help her nation's economic revival.

But some analysts have reacted with scepticism, including questioning whether it would address long-running obstacles that have deterred investment in Venezuela's oil industry.

Trump has recently been under domestic pressure to tame petrol prices, which have spiked due to the Iran war.

He vowed to tap into Venezuela's reserves, the world's largest, after the US captured its then-President Nicolás Maduro in January, ostensibly to stand trial on drug charges in New York.

The deal calls for the development of 17 strategic oil fields with a proven potential of 65 billion barrels, as well as "an investment of more than $100bn and more than $209bn in taxes" for Venezuela, Rodríguez said in a statement.

"These investments will contribute not only to the recovery and modernisation of our industry, but also to our country's economic growth, the energy security of our hemisphere and greater balance in international markets," she said.

Rodríguez, who is Maduro's former vice-president and who the US backed following his capture, added the deal would have "a significant impact on our nation's revival".

Under the agreement, the US government will retain 55% control of a joint venture with an "experienced private operator in Venezuela", a US official told the BBC's US partner CBS News.

They said Rodríguez gave the venture a 100-year concession to operate in the oil fields.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the deal "a huge win for both the American and Venezuelan people".

"For the Venezuelan people, this deal will bring nearly $100bn (£74bn) in private investment, support thousands of high-paying jobs and drive the reconstruction of Venezuela's economy," he said.

Trump said Rubio and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth had reached the agreement with Venezuela's leadership "through a partnership with private business".

He gave few specifics, nor did he elaborate on the partnership or describe possible US terms and commitments, but he said the deal was reached "at no cost to the American Taxpayer".

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It apparently grants the US direct governance over a foreign country's sovereign national resources and appears to be wider in scope than the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority's control over Iraq's oil revenues after Saddam Hussein was ousted in an American-led invasion in 2003.

It is unclear whether the Venezuela agreement could face legal and constitutional challenges in the South American nation. The official text of the agreement between Washington and Caracas has not been published.