While much attention is focused on the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of the world’s oil passes, significant energy developments are taking place further south—in Venezuela. There, the U.S. captured former president and dictator Nicolás Maduro in January as part of Operation Absolute Resolve.
Maduro is currently in a prison cell in Brooklyn, New York, awaiting trial on charges of narco-terrorism and drug trafficking. Trump has long sought to access Venezuela’s vast resources and has been frustrated by the missed opportunities in doing so:
Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves. Under Venezuela’s former president Nicholas Maduro oil exports had dropped significantly, due to a lack of investment. Then came US sanctions against any imports from the Latin American country.
But US President Donald Trump vowed to tap those reserves after the US military captured Maduro in a surprise, night-time raid in January.
Now the oil is flowing again in Venezuela. In March, the country’s monthly crude exports surpassed one million barrels per day. The first time since September.
There is no shortage of untapped energy in the oil-rich South American nation and U.S. companies are vying for a big piece of the pie – which will benefit not just Americans, of course, but also the vast majority of Venezuelans:
International oil majors Chevron (CVX.N) and Shell (SHEL.L) are closing in on the first big oil production deals with Venezuela since the U.S. capture of President Nicolas Maduro in January, five sources close to the negotiations told Reuters.
The deals would allow both companies to boost production in coveted oil regions in the South American country, the biggest steps to date toward what U.S. President Donald Trump has said would be a $100 ?billion effort to rebuild Venezuela’s oil industry after decades of mismanagement and underinvestment under Maduro and his predecessor Hugo Chavez.
“We believe that we can increase this volume by another 50%, that is, to about 350,000–400,000 barrels per day, just by Chevron’s share in Venezuelan oil,” he adds.
Now that Maduro is out of the way, energy opportunities are expanding greatly, and thanks to Trump’s action, the United States is set to reap the rewards:
Venezuela’s National Assembly in late January approved a sweeping reform of the country’s main oil law. It now grants foreign companies autonomy to operate, export and sell Venezuelan oil even when they are minority partners of state-owned oil company PDVSA.
Chevron and Venezuela’s energy authorities have agreed on preliminary terms to expand Chevron’s largest oil project, Petropiar, in the vast Orinoco Belt, two of the sources said.
The fact is, Chevron is already refining a huge amount of Venezuelan oil:
Chevron now imports the equivalent of 250,000 barrels of Venezuelan crude oil per day, on average, says Andy Walz, president of downstream, midstream and chemicals at Chevron.
“We think we can take that up another 50% so call it somewhere around 350,000 to 400,000 barrels a day of just the Chevron share of our position in Venezuela.”
Although the U.S. does not heavily rely on oil from the Strait of Hormuz, the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Iran’s threats to this crucial waterway have unsettled energy markets and driven gas prices up at the pumps. The more we can diversify our oil supply, the better protected we will be. Venezuela, which has some of the largest oil deposits in the world, is a great place to start.
Maduro isn’t missed one iota, and thanks again to President Trump for having the you-know-whats to pull this off.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. Dan “Raisin’” Caine discussed the progress American forces made against the country of Iran over the past month after President Donald Trump ordered the U.S. military to begin a campaign against the Islamic Republic to destroy its nuclear capabilities.
Caine spoke at a press conference on Wednesday morning after the U.S. and Iran struck a two-week cease-fire deal that is being roundly criticized by several analysts and throughout the political spectrum.
“We assess that we’ve sunk more than 90 percent of their regular fleet, including all major surface combatants. 150 ships are at the bottom of the ocean, along with half of the IRGC Navy’s small attack boats. Joint fires projected from the land, sea, and air executed more than 700 strikes against naval mine targets, and we assess that we destroyed more than 95 percent of their naval mines. And perhaps most importantly, we’ve destroyed Iran’s defense industrial base and their ability to reconstitute those capabilities for years to come,” he said.
“Since the beginning of major combat operations, the United States Joint Forces struck more than 13,000 targets — including…more than 4,000 dynamic targets that emerged on the battlefield and were immediately addressed,” the Joint Chiefs chairman continued.
“CENTCOM forces destroyed approximately 80 percent of Iran’s air defense systems, striking more than 1,500 air defense targets, more than 450 ballistic missile storage facilities, and 800 one-way attack drone storage facilities,” he added.
All of these systems are gone. We have devastated Iran’s command and control and logistical networks, destroying more than 2,000 command-and-control nodes and degrading their ability to target U.S. and friendly forces,” Caine said.
President Trump told reporters during a press conference on Monday that he gave the order to destroy a newly constructed bridge in Iran after the country’s negotiators reneged on a previous deal to end the conflict.
U.S. forces carried out a strike last Thursday targeting the newly constructed B1 Bridge in the Iranian city of Karaj, according to reports.
The bridge, described as one of the largest infrastructure projects in West Asia and slated to open later this year, was destroyed in the attack. Iranian sources said civilians were gathered nearby marking the final day of Nowruz when the strike occurred.
Initial reports indicated at least eight people were killed and approximately 100 others were injured. Independent verification of casualty figures and details surrounding the incident has been limited, however.
During his press conference, the president said “we were very close to a deal” when he heard from the U.S. negotiating team, led by Vice President JD Vance, that the Iranians “were breaking it.” He said, Tell them, that’s okay. Don’t worry about it. But tell them to look out their window and watch.”
“Within 45 minutes, I gave the order to knock out the biggest bridge…and within 10 minutes after I gave that order, that bridge was over,” said Trump.
Trump also shared a video of the strike on his Truth Social platform, writing: “The biggest bridge in Iran comes tumbling down, never to be used again — Much more to follow! IT IS TIME FOR IRAN TO MAKE A DEAL BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE, AND THERE IS NOTHING LEFT OF WHAT STILL COULD BECOME A GREAT COUNTRY!”
U.S. military officials say the bridge was a legitimate military target because it would have allowed Iran to transport weapons and other war-making capabilities to the western portion of the country. Democrats and left-wing media, however, claim Trump has committed a “war crime” under provisions of international law and the Geneva Convention, which prohibit the deliberate targeting of civilian infrastructure.
Earlier in the day, Trump claimed victory in the US-Israeli strikes, asserting that U.S. military action had destroyed Tehran’s military capabilities and would “finish the job” soon. He added that “core strategic objectives nearing completion.”