Maduro asked the oil cartel to help protect Venezuela’s oil reserves from US ‘aggression’.
In a letter to fellow members of the group of major oil-producing countries on Sunday, Maduro accused the US of trying to “seize” Venezuela’s oil reserves, the world’s largest.
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“I hope to count on your best efforts to help stop this aggression, which is growing stronger and seriously threatening 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.
Maduro “formally condemned” the “use of lethal military force against the country’s territory, people and institutions” to both OPEC and the larger group of OPEC+ countries.
While Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves, estimated at 303 billion barrels by 2023, it exported only $4.05 billion worth of crude in 2023, significantly less than other major oil-producing countries, partly due to US sanctions imposed during Trump’s first presidency.
Along with Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, the Latin American country was a founding member of OPEC in 1960, with members cooperating to control oil supply and influence the price of oil in the decades that followed.
military construction
Maduro’s letter came a day after Trump wrote on his Truth social platform that Venezuelan airspace had been closed, without providing further explanation.
“To all airlines, pilots, drug dealers and human smugglers, please consider a complete closure of the airspace over and around Venezuela,” Trump wrote.
Caracas called Trump’s statement a “colonialist threat.”
Maduro’s government has said for months that the Trump administration’s significantly increased military presence in the Caribbean is aimed at gaining access to the country’s oil and gas reserves.
The White House has claimed it is focusing on combating drug trafficking, although critics have pointed out that Washington’s own data shows that Venezuela is not a significant source of drugs coming to the US.
Trump claims at least 83 people have been killed in US attacks on ships carrying drugs. Human rights lawyers have condemned the attacks as extrajudicial killings in violation of international law.
The US has also deployed a substantial 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 has promised to significantly increase oil production, fulfilling his 2023 re-election campaign promise to “drill, baby drill.”
In late November, the Trump administration announced new plans to expand oil drilling off the California and Florida coasts for the first time in decades.
In contrast, many island nations in the Caribbean region are calling on fossil-fuel dependent countries to embrace other sources of energy as they struggle to respond to tropical storms and other disasters that are becoming more frequent and severe due to climate change.
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