Venezuela is now sending more than 500,000 barrels of oil per day to the United States, representing about half of its roughly 1.25 million-barrel daily output, a senior US energy official said Tuesday.
Under Secretary of Energy Kyle Haustveit said at an industry event in Houston that the crude was going to US Gulf Coast refineries built specifically to process Venezuela’s heavy, sour oil. The increase follows Washington’s removal of President Nicolas Maduro and installation of an interim government in Caracas seven months earlier.
Production and trade are rising
Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA vice president Jovanny Martinez said production would reach 1.245 million barrels per day by the end of August. He said exports had increased 19.7 percent this year, while fuel production was up 12.9 percent and domestic fuel supplies had risen 5.4 percent.
At the end of 2025, Venezuela was producing about 1 million barrels per day, with approximately 135,000 barrels per day sent to the United States. The country has an estimated 303 billion barrels of proven reserves, about 17 percent of the global total, but decades of underinvestment and sanctions had reduced production to roughly 1 percent of world supply.
Why Gulf Coast refineries are involved
Venezuela’s crude is heavy and sour, matching the specifications of refineries on the US Gulf Coast. Haustveit said the United States was also sending more than 100,000 barrels per day of naphtha to Venezuela, where it is blended with heavier crude.
Martinez said Venezuela wants to improve, modernise and expand its refineries. He also said the country needs more diluents for its heavier grades and wants those materials to be developed domestically.
Questions remain over oil revenue
The expansion follows President Donald Trump’s statements that Washington would run Venezuela and use its oil reserves. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Congress that revenue from Venezuelan oil sales would be placed in an account under US oversight, with Caracas submitting monthly budget requests and Washington setting limits on how the money could be spent.
A July report estimated that the United States had collected more than $13bn from Venezuelan oil sales this year; Trump said the actual figure was higher. A State Department official said in April that about $3bn had been authorised for disbursement to Venezuela. The Council on Foreign Relations said the administration had not publicly detailed how much oil it sold, how much revenue it collected or how the funds were used.
The same think tank raised concerns about the lack of accountability mechanisms and a clear democratic roadmap, as well as the exclusion of Venezuela’s opposition and civil society from talks over the country’s future. Venezuela’s opposition, including Maria Corina Machado, agreed in May to a roadmap calling for presidential elections and political negotiations.
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