Trump says Venezuela will hand over up to 50m barrels; oil prices fall

Global oil prices fell by more than 1% after Donald Trump said Venezuela would hand over 30m to 50m barrels of the country’s blockaded crude to the US. Trump said the deal would give him the power to sell up to $3bn (£2.2bn) worth of Venezuelan crude stranded in tankers and storage facilities into an already oversupplied global market.

The international benchmark, Brent crude, fell to just over $60 a barrel on Wednesday, while the US oil price fell by 1.4%, to $56.44 a barrel. The proposal raises the prospect of disruption to Venezuela’s exports to China, which takes about 80% of its crude exports. China’s foreign ministry said Venezuela “enjoys full and permanent sovereignty over its natural resources and economic activities” and that US demands for the country to hand over its oil “violate international law, infringe upon Venezuela’s sovereignty, and harm the rights of the Venezuelan people”.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said: “That money 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 … It will be taken by storage ships, and brought directly to unloading docks in the United States.” He said he wants Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, to give the US and private companies “total access” to the oil industry, and that the US energy secretary, Chris Wright, is in charge of executing the deal.

Key Topics

Business, Donald Trump, Venezuela, Brent Crude, Delcy Rodríguez, China