Authorities in Venezuela have agreed to give the U.S. between 30 million and 50 million barrels of oil, U.S. President Donald Trump said in a social media post.
“I am pleased to announce that the Interim Authorities in Venezuela will be turning over between 30 and 50 MILLION barrels of high-quality, sanctioned oil to the United States of America,” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social.
He claimed the oil would be sold at “market price,” and that the revenue from those sales “will be controlled by me, as President of the United States of America, to ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States.”
Mr Trump said the oil would be loaded onto storage ships and “brought directly to unloading docks” in the U.S.
He blamed former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro for overdose deaths of “countless Americans.” Mr Maduro was arrested last week in an operation by U.S. elite forces in the capital, Caracas, and is standing trial in the U.S. on charges including “narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices against the United States.”
CBS News reported that experts who study drug trafficking say the claims are exaggerated.
Meanwhile, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright would organise the process of transferring oil from Venezuela to the U.S., the president said.
Mr Trump did not offer further details about where the oil would come from or who authorised the transfer.
The Venezuelan government has yet to respond to the president’s post.
