President Maduro called on oil-producing countries to help protect Venezuela’s oil reserves from US “aggression.”
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has called on the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to help the country counter “growing illicit threats” from the United States and President Donald Trump.
In a letter to major oil-producing member states on Sunday, President Maduro accused the United States of trying to “grab” Venezuela’s oil reserves, the world’s largest.
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“I look forward to your best efforts to stop this growing aggression, which seriously threatens the balance of the international energy market for both producing and consuming countries,” Maduro said, according to a copy of the letter published by state broadcaster Telesur.
President Maduro also “formally condemned” both OPEC and the larger group of OPEC+ countries for “the use of lethal military force against the territory, people and institutions of a country.”
Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves, estimated at 303 billion barrels in 2023, but due in part to U.S. sanctions imposed under President Trump, its crude oil exports in 2023 were worth just $4.05 billion, far below other major oil-producing countries.
The Latin American country was a founding member of OPEC in 1960, along with Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, and the members have worked together to control oil supplies and influence oil prices in the decades since.
increasing military power
Maduro’s letter was sent a day after Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that Venezuela’s airspace was closed, without further explanation.
“To all airlines, pilots, drug traffickers, and human traffickers, please consider closing the entire airspace over and around Venezuela,” Trump wrote.
Caracas called President Trump’s statement a “colonialist threat.”
Maduro’s government has argued for months that the Trump administration’s massive expansion of the military presence in the Caribbean was aimed at gaining access to the country’s oil and gas reserves.
Although the White House claims it is focused on combating drug trafficking, critics point out that Washington’s own data shows Venezuela is not a significant source of drugs entering the United States.
At least 83 people were killed in a U.S. attack on a ship that President Trump claims was carrying drugs. Human rights activists denounced the attack as an extrajudicial killing in violation of international law.
The United States also has a significant military presence in the Caribbean region, including the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, other warships, thousands of troops, and F-35 fighter jets.
“Drill, baby drill”
As president, Trump promised to significantly increase oil production, fulfilling his 2023 re-election campaign promise of “drill, baby drill.”
In late November, the Trump administration announced new plans to drill for oil off the coasts of California and Florida for the first time in decades.
By contrast, many Caribbean island states are pushing fossil fuel-dependent countries to shift to other energy sources as they struggle to cope with tropical storms and other disasters that are becoming more frequent and severe due to climate change.
