The United States government is negotiating with Venezuela's interim administration to acquire stakes in a group of the South American country's oil fields, under arrangements that would include leases of up to a hundred years, the outlets Axios and Bloomberg reported on Thursday citing unnamed senior US officials.

The deal would give the U.S. an ownership stake in Venezuela's oil fields and more than double American oil reserves.

US and Venezuela are reportedly nearing a deal for Washington to acquire stakes in over a dozen Venezuelan oil fields, potentially boosting US oil reserves.