Venezuela oil stake talks involve US, Axios says

Axios reported that President Donald Trump's administration is in talks with Venezuela's interim government about the United States taking an ownership stake in the country's oil resources.

The discussions involve more than a dozen productive oil fields with 90 billion barrels of proven reserves, about a third of Venezuela's total proven reserves of 300 billion barrels, Axios said Thursday, citing two unnamed US officials.

Under the reported arrangement, private companies, including American firms, would develop the fields and return more oil revenue to Venezuela in exchange for a US ownership stake, according to Axios.

Axios said the deal would more than double US oil reserves while the US strategic petroleum reserve is at a 40-year low. The Trump administration did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment.

Venezuela has the world's largest proven oil reserves. Nearly eight months after the United States deposed former Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in a military raid, interim president Delcy Rodriguez has sought to open Venezuela to foreign investment, particularly in energy.

Chevron, the only US oil company still operating in Venezuela when Maduro was ousted, said in July that it had raised daily crude production to 280,000 barrels and planned to increase output by 50 percent by the end of 2028.