Trump announces Venezuela turning over millions of barrels of oil to US government 'immediately'

Venezuelan Political Crisis

Trump announces Venezuela turning over millions of barrels of oil to US government 'immediately'

Trump announces 30 to 50 million barrels of sanctioned oil will be turned over to US by interim authorities in Venezuela

Alexandra Koch Fox News

Published

January 6, 2026 8:00pm EST

Video

Trump tells MS NOW host US is going to 'keep the oil' in Venezuela

President Donald Trump told MS NOW host Joe Scarborough that the U.S. was going to "keep the oil" in Venezuela as the host pressed the president on comparisons to Iraq.

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President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that the interim authorities in Venezuela will be turning over between 30 and 50 million barrels of "high quality," sanctioned oil to the U.S.

The move comes after U.S. forces on Saturday captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife, hauling them to New York City to face criminal drug charges.

Trump said the oil will be sold at market price, and he will control the proceeds to ensure it is "used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States!"

The oil will be transported directly to unloading docks in the U.S. via storage ships, the president said.

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President Trump said Venezuela will hand over 30 to 50 million barrels of oil to the U.S. (Bloomberg/Getty Images)

Energy Secretary Chris Wright has been tasked with executing the plan, "immediately."

Following strikes on the capital and Maduro's subsequent capture, Trump said the U.S. will run Caracas, Venezuela, until a safe transition can occur, warning he was "ready to stage a second and much larger attack" on Caracas if needed.

In an interview with MS NOW host Joe Scarborough on Tuesday, Trump said the difference between the disaster in Iraq and the recent action in Venezuela was that former President George Bush "didn’t keep the oil."

A caravan of armed men on motorcycles drives through the main streets of the city a day after the capture of Nicolas Maduro by US forces on January 4, 2026 in Caracas, Venezuela.

A caravan of armed men on motorcycles drives through the main streets of the city a day after the capture of Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces on January 4, 2026, in Caracas, Venezuela. (Jesus Vargas/Getty Images)

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"We’re going to keep the oil," Scarborough said, quoting Trump. "We’re going to rebuild their broken-down oil facilities, and this time we’re going to keep the oil."

Venezuela holds more than 300 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, nearly quadruple those of the U.S.

Though the country in the late 1990s was capable of pumping about 3.5 million barrels a day, mismanagement, corruption and the rising cost of extraction caused production to fall to roughly 800,000 barrels a day, according to energy analytics firm Kpler.

Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are seen in handcuffs after landing at a Manhattan helipad, escorted by heavily armed Federal agents as they make their way into an armored car en route to a Federal courthouse in Manhattan on January 5, 2026, in New York City. (XNY/Star Max/GC Images)

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Trump said he plans to mobilize major U.S. oil companies to invest billions in fixing Venezuela's broken oil infrastructure.

"We are going to have our very large United States oil companies go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken oil infrastructure and start making money for the country," Trump said.

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US President Donald Trump during an executive order signing in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, March 31, 2025.

President Donald Trump announced Venezuela will be turning over millions of barrels of oil to the U.S. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

American firms have not yet confirmed plans to return to Venezuela.

Fox News Digital's Amanda Macias contributed to this report.

Alexandra Koch is a Fox News Digital journalist who covers breaking news, with a focus on high-impact events that shape national conversation.

She has covered major national crises, including the L.A. wildfires, Potomac and Hudson River aviation disasters, Boulder terror attack, and Texas Hill Country floods.

Trump announces Venezuela turning over millions of barrels of oil to US government 'immediately'