Last edited Tue Jan 6, 2026, 09:29 AM - Edit history (1)

True, Venezuela has large oil reserves, but drilling and pumping it out is likely to be time-consuming and expensive. A lot of that oil is thick and viscous, and Venezuela does not have the bucks or the facilities to pump it out. In fact, with current oil prices, oil companies might be content to get their oil from someplace else.

Another point: Venezuela's oil infrastructure is in sorry shape. Since Venezuela's oil production has been nationalized, a lot of the infrastructure has deteriorated due to heavy use and deferred maintenance. It will cost oil companies (or the Venezuelan government) hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars, to fix it up.

Also, drilling, pumping, and refining that oil requires people. Lots of people. Skilled people. President Maduro's and his predecessor's erratic policies have inspired tens of thousands of skilled Venezuelan oil workers to emigrate abroad. There's little reason outside the fever dreams of right-wing American political theorists and the BS spouted on right-wing political propaganda channels to believe that they'll all come rushing back to pick up where they left off. Many of those Venezuelan oil-patch emigres have settled in other countries and there's no reason to believe that they're in an all-fired hurry to come back to their homeland, even with Miller's and Noem's brutal nudging. AND, I might add, many of those oilmen DON'T EVEN WORK OR LIVE IN THE US.

But don't take my word for it.. Here's something from Fortune magazine, and outside of the hallucinatory world of right-wing bloviating, Fortune isn't a left-wing socialist crypto-commie magazine.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/why-venezuela-s-oil-may-be-far-more-trouble-than-it-is-worth-for-chevron-and-other-companies/ar-AA1TF7qY?uxmode=ruby&ocid=edgntpruby&pc=HCTS&cvid=695d05760a2f436a8bf3c01bdd35ad42&ei=40