President Trump said late Tuesday that Venezuela is going to turn over 30 million to 50 million barrels of oil to the U.S., an announcement that follows the recent operation in which U.S. military forces captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.
“I am pleased to announce that the Interim Authorities in Venezuela will be turning over between 30 and 50 MILLION Barrels of High Quality, Sanctioned Oil, to the United States of America,” Trump said in a Truth Social post.
“This Oil will be sold at its Market Price, and 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!”
Trump has said the U.S. is going to “run” Venezuela “until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition.” He also said that Venezuela’s petroleum infrastructure would come under the control of American oil companies.
In his Tuesday post, Trump said he had requested the help of the Secretary of Energy, Chris Wright, for the oil transfer and that the oil “will be taken by storage ships, and brought directly to unloading docks in the United States.”
On Monday, Trump waved aside comparisons between the U.S.’s previous intervention in Iraq and the Venezuelan military operation. He claimed the difference is that his administration is planning to hold onto seized oil from the South American country.
“The difference between Iraq and this is that [former President George W. Bush] didn’t keep the oil. We’re going to keep the oil,” Trump said, per MS NOW’s Joe Scarborough.
“In 2016, I said we should have kept the oil. It caused a lot of controversy. Well, we should have kept the oil,” Trump continued, Scarborough said. “And we’re going to rebuild their broken-down oil facilities, and this time we’re going to keep the oil.”
Updated at 8:10 p.m. EDT