US nears deal to secure stake in Venezuelan oil fields, insiders say

What the report says

Al Jazeera, citing Reuters sources, reported that the Trump administration is working on an agreement with Venezuela that could give the United States long-term access to some of the country’s crude reserves. The reported plan would allow American companies to develop a group of Venezuelan oilfields, with output directed to the US market. Sources said the deal could be signed and made public soon, though the exact structure has not been finalized.

According to the report, the fields under discussion include sites in the Orinoco Belt and in the Lake Maracaibo region. One legal model being considered is a lease arrangement, paired with an auction or tender process to assign individual fields to US producers. The article said some of the acreage is currently operated by a small Chinese firm under a contract approved during Nicolas Maduro’s presidency.

The reported talks come as Washington seeks steadier supplies for US refineries and looks for ways to support domestic fuel prices and rebuild the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Venezuela holds the world’s largest crude reserves, but its oil sector has been weakened for years by underinvestment and corruption, and current law does not include leases for oil areas. Experts cited by the report said any such agreement could face constitutional objections and legal challenges.

Al Jazeera said the White House referred questions to the US Energy Department, while Venezuelan authorities and PDVSA did not immediately respond.