By Jennifer A Dlouhy and Eric Martin
The US is set to take majority control over a huge amount of Venezuela’s oil wealth in an unprecedented maneuver that officials said would create the world’s second-largest private oil company by reserves.
The US will control 55% of the effective output from the joint venture, and will obtain the oil at cost, with the venture having 100-year concessions for oil fields totaling about 65 billion barrels of proven reserves.
The plan represents an untested maneuver that could be vulnerable to legal challenges and political shifts in Washington, with some criticizing the lack of a democratic transition or a timetable for elections as part of the deal.
President Donald Trump made the announcement about the arrangement in a Truth Social post on Friday night. It represents his latest move to establish US dominance over the Western Hemisphere, countering years of inroads by China, as part of his embrace of the 19th-century Monroe Doctrine.
