A crane from International Frontier Forwarders, Inc. loads machinery onto the Roibeira, sailing under the Portuguese flag, at the Port of Houston Texas, with equipment for the oil and gas industry bound for Venezuela, on February 25, 2026. Workers in hard hats teem aboard a cargo ship at the Port of Houston, the latest US ship headed to Venezuela after President Donald Trump lifted restrictions to boost oil production in the crisis-hit country. US sanctions have crippled Venezuela for years, but Trump's administration has been working with interim president Delcy Rodriguez after toppling autocratic leader Nicolas Maduro. Washington has used a carrot-and-stick approach with Rodriguez, praising her for welcoming US oil companies but at the same time threatening her with violence if she does not cooperate. (Credit: Photo by RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)
The Trump administration is negotiating with Venezuela's interim government for a U.S. ownership stake in oil fields containing an estimated 90 billion barrels of proven reserves, a potential agreement that could more than double the oil reserves available to the United States.
The discussions cover more than a dozen producing fields rather than Venezuela's entire estimated 300 billion barrels of proven reserves, according to Axios.
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