Donald Trump has said Venezuela will be “turning over” 30 to 50m barrels of sanctioned oil to the US, as the South American country seeks to avoid deep cuts in output amid an ongoing blockade on exports imposed by Washington since mid-December.
“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 said in a post online.
Venezuela has millions of barrels of oil loaded on tankers and in storage tanks that it has been unable to ship due to the blockade imposed by Trump, as part of the pressure campaign that culminated in the toppling of Nicolás Maduro who was seized from his country by US forces over the weekend.
“I have asked Energy Secretary Chris Wright to execute this plan, immediately,” Trump said, adding that the oil would be “taken by storage ships, and brought directly to unloading docks in the United States.”
This sounds like a lot of oil, but it’s actually not that much. The U.S. strategic oil reserve is about 44 billion barrels, and they distribute more than 5 million barrels per day.
So stumbling on 50 million barrels is about 10 days worth of crude oil distribution. It will barely make a dent in gas prices at the pump.
Regardless, this is blatantly corrupt activity. Trump intends to profit personally off of stolen Venezuelan oil.
Oh nah, they’re selling it at market rate, but the money goes into a PERSONAL ACCOUNT FOR TRUMP. Not into a government fund.
Dude just extorted about 2 billion bucks for himself, with more on the way if he keeps seizing tankers.
The current output of Venezuela less than 1 million a day. Even at their peak it was 3 million a day. Which will probably take a decade to get back to those numbers. This whole thing has nothing to do with their production and how much they will “give” the US. It’s about controlling the largest oil reserve on the planet they are sitting on.
My first search was how much we used a day, and it came out to be 2-3 days. I’m sure it won’t be the last seizure we see, it’s going to be a rough year again
It’s approximately a tanker’s worth, I presume…