Trump: U.S. Oil Companies Will ‘Fix’ Venezuela’s ‘Badly Broken’ Oil Infrastructure

We tried everything else, may as well try a war for oil.

George W. Bush was very scrupulous about the invasion of Iraq in 2003.  He explained it to the UN and to Congress to get approval and 49 countries made some commitment to participate.  The US wasn’t taking oil or any sort of profit from the war, but would do a “Hearts and Minds” campaign to help the people of Iraq and drive out the terrorist support networks.

Liberals hammered the shit out of George W., and called it a “War for Oil”.  George W. experienced the largest decline in approval of any president on record.

Here’s the graph, it’s stunning.  From 90% approval to high-30’s for his second term.

George W. Bush was great in the aftermath of the 9/11 attack.  Going to Ground Zero and addressing the nation was his best moment. 

A sane person might suggest that we try peace, instead of war.  At least since World War II, every president has gotten us into war somewhere. President Trump tried a year of peace, negotiating six major peace accords, and got no credit from Leftists.  His biggest military engagement was the splendid bombing of the Iranian nuclear facility.  That was a short engagement, entirely successful, and nobody objected much.

President Trump had earned the Nobel Peace Prize in 2025, but was snubbed by the committee.  In a clever twist, they gave it to Venezuela’s opposition leader, María Corina Machado.  She immediately thanked President Trump for his strong opposition to Maduro.  She must be pleased with recent events.

The Wall Street Journal reports on President Trump’s intentions for Venezuelan oil.

“We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country,” he [Trump] said.

Trump doesn’t say what country, but he makes it clear that the US is taking a cut.

“We are going to be taking out a tremendous amount of wealth out of the ground,” Trump said during the press conference. He added that the U.S. would keep some of the proceeds “in the form of reimbursement for the damages caused us by that country.”

The WSJ article explains that Venezuela has about 300 billion barrels of high quality crude oil reserves and pumps about a million barrels per day.   That is 800 years worth.

Adding more oil to the market will lower the price, and make oil reserves that are more expensive to extract, less economically viable.  That will shake up the industry.

Cheap energy lifts all boats.  Oil has so many uses that a lower cost will benefit middle-class consumers.

The WSJ doesn’t address how cheap oil prices impact Russia’s ability to finance the war in Ukraine.  This article from a week ago, addresses the topic.

The dotted red line shows that Russia budgeted for oil at $70 per barrel.  The red line shows that currently, they are getting $35 per barrel.

The result? Russia’s budget deficit has quintupled—from the planned 1.2 trillion rubles to nearly 6 trillion ($76.8 billion), think tank Re:Russia calculated. The National Wealth Fund, Moscow’s emergency piggy bank, has shrunk from $185 billion in 2021 to just $35.7 billion.

If President Trump succeeds in liberating Venezuela’s oil, taking out Maduro may be the biggest foreign aid that any country can give to Ukraine.   Russia and Ukraine are finding it harder to field men and equipment, but Russia is much bigger and is holding Ukraine territory.  Russia is running out of money, and Trump has reduce their prospects for the future.

My predictions:

  • María Corina Machado just won the Nobel Peace Prize, so has international prestige.  She will become the interim leader of Venezuela.
  • Maduro’s administration and supporters will be cleared out quick.
  • President Trump will coerce or cajole US oil companies to get in and drill, baby, drill.
  • The price of oil will stay low, making Putin sweat.
  • A Russia/Ukraine peace deal will be signed by June, with Russia retreating from some areas they currently hold, but keeping some areas they held before this invasion.
  • Europe will take credit for getting Ukraine a better deal than was proposed in 2025.
  • Leftists will accuse President Trump of being a Putin stooge for negotiating a realistic peace deal that benefits Russia and Ukraine.

President Trump makes it all look so easy.