US President Donald Trump has made Venezuela's oil the central focus of his justification for military operations, reinforcing claims that the action was never about the 'war on drugs'. During a press conference on Saturday, Trump referred to oil more than a dozen times, asserting that the US would take back 'stolen' oil from Venezuela.
Trump stated that Venezuela had 'stolen' oil from the US, echoing a post by his homeland security adviser Stephen Miller. However, analysts argue that the US has no legal claim to Venezuela's natural reserves. José Ignacio Hernández, a legal scholar, noted that even if past expropriations were illegitimate, Venezuela did not steal oil from the US.
US companies held exploration concessions in Venezuela, which confer temporary operating rights, not permanent ownership. Under international law and the UN principle of permanent sovereignty over natural resources established in 1962, sovereign states have the right to control resources within their territory.
Venezuela nationalised its oil industry in 1976, compensating US companies such as Exxon and Mobil with about $1bn each. In 2007, Hugo Chávez took control of remaining private operations, leading to arbitration cases. ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil won awards, with ConocoPhillips still owed over $10bn.
Analysts note that Venezuela's oil production is far below potential due to mismanagement and sanctions, and its heavy sour crude is costly to extract. Francisco Monaldi of Rice University estimated that restoring production to 4-5 million barrels a day would require $100bn in investment and at least a decade.
