The Trump administration is close to finalising a deal that would give the United States long-term access to a defined set of Venezuelan oilfields, with a signing possibly imminent, according to Reuters. The prospective agreement would cover up to 17 fields and guarantee a flow of Venezuelan crude to the United States under a lease-style legal framework.
The talks are taking place at the highest levels of both governments, a source with knowledge of the negotiations told Reuters. Energy Secretary Chris Wright is reportedly planning to travel to Caracas as early as the week following 27 August 2026, HuffPost reported.
The 17 fields under negotiation span greenfield sites in the Orinoco Belt and mature producing areas around Lake Maracaibo, according to a list reviewed by Reuters. Some are currently operated by a small Chinese firm whose contract was signed under Maduro.
Under the proposed structure, a lease would serve as the legal basis for U.S. access, with individual fields then allocated to American producers through an auction or tender process, Reuters reported. The precise constitutional basis under which the U.S. would hold such a lease on Venezuelan sovereign oilfields has not been established. Experts say the arrangement could face constitutional questions and legal challenges.
Separately, Axios reported that discussions cover more than a dozen productive fields previously owned by Venezuelan insiders or controlled by China, and that a deal could more than double U.S. oil reserves. Reuters reported those findings.
The deal would be the furthest-reaching move yet in a policy Washington has pursued since U.S. forces seized then-President Nicolás Maduro in a raid on Caracas on 3 January 2026. Venezuela's government has since been led by Delcy Rodríguez. The Trump administration framed its intervention as part of a broader effort to rebuild Venezuela's oil industry after decades of mismanagement under Maduro and his predecessor Hugo Chávez.
Within days of Maduro's capture, Washington and Caracas announced an initial deal for Venezuela to export up to $2 billion worth of crude, amounting to 30 to 50 million barrels, to the United States, redirecting supply away from China, Reuters reported. Energy Secretary Wright said at the time that the U.S. intended to sell Venezuelan oil production into the marketplace indefinitely. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the administration sought to ensure Western oil companies had fair access to Venezuela's market, the New York Times reported.
By February 2026, the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) was preparing a general licence to allow firms to explore and extract crude oil and natural gas in Venezuela. That expanded on an earlier licence permitting loading, sale, transport, storage and refining of Venezuelan crude, Reuters reported.
In March 2026, Chevron was nearing a deal to expand into the Ayacucho 8 area of the Orinoco Belt, and Shell was close to agreements covering the Carito and Pirital fields in Monagas North, in what were described as the first major production deals since Maduro's capture, Reuters reported.
The August 2026 talks go further, setting up a framework that could bring a wider range of American producers into Venezuelan fields on a long-term basis. Which companies beyond Chevron and Shell would participate in any field auction, and how revenues would be divided between the two governments, remain unclear. Venezuela's government has not publicly confirmed the terms or scope of the proposed agreement.
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