"A global crude glut complicates the president’s plans to “get reimbursed for everything that we spend” in the South American petrostate, whose leader was captured by the U.S. on Saturday."
"“We’re going to get reimbursed for all of that. We’re going to get reimbursed for everything that we spend,” Trump said during a Saturday news conference. The “money coming out of the ground is very substantial, so it’s not going to cost us anything.”
But reimbursement is not as simple as it might seem in the wake of the dramatic U.S. capture of President Nicolás Maduro on Saturday morning and drug trafficking charges. Analysts say restoring the Venezuelan oil industry won’t happen fast and won’t be easy — and there are some early warning signs.
For one thing, oil companies are not rushing in to set up shop. POLITICO reported over the weekend that some industry officials are waiting whether the conflict-ridden country will hospitable to oil development. Some observers say the Trump administration hasn’t done much to show it will be.
Part of the reluctance is tied to the current glut of oil, which has driven prices so low that U.S. oil companies are starting to back off some of their production plans in the United States. The International Energy Agency has said there are nearly 2 million extra barrels per day of oil in the global market, or about twice what Venezuela has been supplying. U.S. benchmark crude traded last week below $60 a barrel, a level considered at or below the breakeven point for many oil projects."
Mike Soraghan and Carlos Anchondo report for E&E News January 5, 2026.
Advertisement 
