Trump says U.S. oil companies will invest billions of dollars in Venezuela

President Donald Trump said on Saturday that U.S. investment in Venezuela’s oil sector is an important goal of the operation that removed President Nicolas Maduro.

“We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies — the biggest anywhere in the world — go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure,” Trump said at a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida.

“Let’s start making money for the country,” Trump added.

Venezuela, a founding member of OPEC, has the largest proven oil reserves in the world, with 303 billion barrels, or 17% of global reserves, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Chevron is the only big U.S. oil company working in Venezuela. It exported about 140,000 barrels per day in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to the energy consulting firm Kpler.

U.S. forces captured Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in a large attack on Venezuela overnight. They are now facing drug-trafficking charges in the Southern District of New York.

Chevron said in a statement that it “remains focused on the safety and wellbeing of our employees, as well as the integrity of our assets.”

“We continue to operate in full compliance with all relevant laws and regulations,” the company added.

Trump said the U.S. will “run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition.” He added that the U.S. will temporarily manage Venezuela “with a group,” but he did not give more details.