Business & Economics
U.S.–Brokered Hydrocarbons Overhaul Races Through Caracas After Maduro’s Ouster
Weeks after U.S. special forces captured Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s parliament approved on first reading a bill that lifts decades-old state control and lets private (mainly U.S.) firms run oil fields—aiming for an 18 % output jump in 2026.
Focusing Facts
- PDVSA chief Héctor Obregón targets raising production from ~1.2 million bpd to roughly 1.4 million bpd within the year under the new law.
- On 23 Jan 2026 President Trump claimed the U.S. seized oil from seven Venezuelan tankers and will market up to 50 million barrels through U.S. refineries.
- Independent auditor Rystad Energy now rates Venezuela’s commercially recoverable reserves at 60 billion barrels—one-fifth of the long-touted 303 billion OPEC figure.
Context
Great-power oil grabs are nothing new: the 1953 CIA–MI6 coup in Iran that re-opened Abadan to western majors, or the 1914 U.S. backing of Huerta to safeguard Mexican crude, both echo today’s mix of gunboat diplomacy and contract rewrites. This episode reveals two long arcs: first, the ebb and flow between resource nationalism (Chávez’s 2007 expropriations) and foreign-capital dependence once mismanagement and sanctions choke output; second, Washington’s bid to fuse shale self-sufficiency with hemispheric heavy-oil dominance, undermining OPEC’s quota logic. Whether this matters in 2126 hinges on timing: if global demand peaks within two decades and heavy crude stays costly and carbon-intensive, the reserves fight may resemble Britain’s scramble for coal in the 1890s—strategic then, obsolete a generation later. Yet for now, control of Orinoco barrels offers leverage in price wars with Riyadh and political bargaining with Beijing, making this legal overhaul a pivotal, if perilous, chapter in the century-old U.S.–Venezuela oil saga.
Perspectives
Right-leaning media
e.g., WION, matzav.com — Present the U.S. seizure of Venezuelan oil as a decisive, mutually profitable move orchestrated by President Trump to revitalise production and benefit American refineries. They echo Trump’s own talking-points and minimise questions of legality or sovereignty, framing the takeover as a business opportunity rather than a controversial military intervention.
International critics of U.S. intervention
e.g., Eurasia Review, Le Monde — Cast Washington’s direct control of Venezuelan crude as an act of neo-imperial plunder that endangers OPEC’s market power and violates Venezuela’s sovereignty. By stressing ‘spoliation’ and ‘oil gamble,’ they foreground worst-case geopolitical fallout and may underplay internal Venezuelan mismanagement that preceded the U.S. action.
Business & energy-industry outlets
e.g., ArkansasOnline/Bloomberg, Yahoo Finance — Focus on the economics: Venezuela’s reserves are likely overstated, infrastructure is dilapidated, and new laws opening the sector to private firms are aimed at boosting output under U.S. pressure. Their market-centric lens privileges investor concerns and technical appraisals, tending to sidestep deeper ethical debates over foreign military involvement or local political legitimacy.