Axios: US close to striking 'massive' deal for Venezuelan oil fields

The Trump administration is in talks with Venezuela's interim government about taking an ownership stake in the South American country's enormous oil resources, two US officials tell Axios, Report informs.

The historic deal would more than double US oil reserves by drawing from a country that has the world's largest proven reserves.

"Calling this deal huge would be an understatement," one of the officials said. "It is massive."

Adding pressure to get the deal signed: the wars in Iran and Ukraine, which have disrupted global oil supplies and raised prices.

The US Strategic Petroleum Reserve is now at a 40-year low.

Details are still being hammered out, but the discussions involve more than a dozen productive oil fields - not all of Venezuela's 300 billion barrels of proven reserves.

The fields in question, which have 90 billion barrels of proven reserves, used to be controlled by former Venezuelan insiders - including some who've been indicted - as well as interests once controlled by China, the official said.

In return for giving the US an ownership stake, Venezuela's government would benefit from private companies, including American firms, developing the fields and returning more oil revenue to that country.

The Venezuelan oil deal would be a legacy-defining moment for President Trump, who has made US energy security and dominance in the Western Hemisphere pillars of his so-called "Donroe Doctrine."

"President Trump is close to securing America's energy future for generations to come, not just in the US but in the hemisphere," a second official said.

The exact timing for finalizing the deal is unclear, but Energy Secretary Chris Wright has been discussing plans to go to Venezuela next week as his department discusses ways to increase oil production by US firms.