Oil At Boiling Point! How Maduro's Poor Country Venezuela Has Over $17 Tn Oil Bigger Than Japan, India, More

The tensions in Venezuela have heightened with US President Donald Trump declaring to rule this country after capturing its head of state, Nicolas Maduro, and his wife. And Venezuela? It has already seen an interim shift in power and decision-making overnight. The lives of over 2.84 crores of people are on the line. But amidst all the chaos, all heads have turned to crude oil. Why? Because Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the country. What is baffling is that Venezuela's economical condition is worse and it is in poverty, and yet it has oil deep within its soils that is more than giants like India, Germany, Japan, and more.

All About US-Venezuela Conflict?

US President Donald Trump ordered a US military operation to capture Venezuela's president, Nicolas Maduro. The US bombarded Venezuela's capital city, Caracas on January 3rd, with missiles and dramatically captured Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores.

In a press conference at Mar-a-Lago, Trump said, "The USA will run Venezuela until a safe, proper, and judicious transition." He called Maduro an illegitimate dictator, responsible for planning and infusing colossal amounts of deadly illicit drugs into the US.

Furthermore, Trump accused Maduro of overseeing the Cartel de los Soles, which translates to 'Cartel of the Suns,' an alleged criminal network within the Armed Forces of Venezuela.

As per the latest updates, the Constitutional Chamber ‍of Venezuela's Supreme Court announced that Vice President Delcy Rodríguez to become the acting president of Venezuela. The acting president has demanded from the US to free Maduro.

Currently, Maduro and his wife are in New York for further questioning. While Venezuela has called the US mission an "imperialist attack" and called for citizens to protest and demand. While the Trump administration argued that capturing of Maduro is a step towards lowering the transition of dangerous of drugs to the USA.

Amidst all of this, let's talk about Venezuela. What has Maduro left behind for Trump to rule, even if it's temporary?

Venezuela Economy:

Maduro has ruled Venezuela for more than a decade. For instance, he ruled rom 19 November 2013 to 19 November 2014, 15 March 2015 to 31 December 2015, 15 January 2016 to present.

Just as his presidency began in 2013, the fate of Venezuela was sealed for doomsday! Venezuela's economy has been shrinking since he came in power. In 2015, the country's inflation breached over 100%, making it the highest in the world and highest ever in the country's history as well. By end of 2018, the inflation rate skyrocketed to an unrealistic 80,000%, as per independent sources.

By this time, Venezuela spine had broken to hyperinflation. And its poverty-rate was nearly 90% of the total population. In November 2017, credit agencies declared Venezuela to default in its debt payment.

As of now, nearly 82% Venezuelans are in poverty, with 53% in extreme poverty, unable to buy even basic foodstuffs.

Venezuela which was once upon a time a rich country, is not choking up for survival since Maduro's regime.

As per a 2024 report of Voice of America (VOA) cited by AFP, the formerly rich petro-state has seen GDP fall by 80% in less than a decade, driving some seven million of its citizens to flee. Most Venezuelans live on just a few dollars a month, with the health care and education systems in total disrepair and biting shortages of electricity and fuel.

Venezuela is currently at 85th rank with $82.77 billion GDP.

Venezuela Oil Reserves:

According to Marc Baumann, the founder of 51 Insights, the United States just secured control over the world's largest crude oil reserves: 303 billion barrels.

Here's what we know! Venezuela was naturally rich in oil reserves. The country enjoyed the status of one of the wealthiest countries between 1950s to 1980s, before collapsing in 21st century. But Venezuela still holds the largest crude oil reserves in the world.

Maduro practically watched Venezuela burn while sitting on stocks of the largest oil barrels. And Trump has probably hit the bulls-eye!

Currently, WTI crude is at $57.32 per barrel and Brent Crude is at $60.75 per barrel. The 300 billion barrel at $57.32 per barrel, would result in nearly $17.3 trillion in the underground wealth.

This is larger than the whole economy of Germany, Japan, India and United Kingdom. In fact, Venezuela has oil reserves that is only below US and China's economy.

Top 10 Largest Economies In World:

In terms of economy, US is the largest with GDP of $30.62 trillion, followed by China at second with $19.4 trillion. At the third is Germany with economy of $5.01 trillion, followed by Japan and India at fourth and fifth with GDP of $4.28 trillion and $4.13 trillion.

Rank	Country	Nominal GDP (USD) in trillions
1	United States (U.S)	$30.615
2	China	$19.398
3	Germany	$5.013
4	Japan	$4.279
5	India	$4.125
6	United Kingdom (U.K.)	$3.958
7	France	$3.361
8	Italy	$2.543
9	Russia	$2.540
10	Canada	$2.283

This means Venezuela's underground oil reserves are 3.5 times larger than Germany, and more than 4 times larger than Japan and India.

But with the tensions between US and Venezuela, Baumann said through his X handle, the geopolitics of energy just shifted from a multi-polar struggle to a unilateral dominance. He added, for decades, the "Petrodollar" was secured by a complex alliance with the Middle East. That era is transitioning. By controlling the Western Hemisphere's largest energy spigot, the U.S. has effectively created an "Energy Fortress America."

"The structural implications for global markets are staggering," he said.

That being, the United States has been Venezuela's most important trading partner despite the strained relations between the two countries. American exports to Venezuela have included machinery, agricultural products, medical instruments and cars. Venezuela is one of the top four suppliers of foreign oil to the United States. About 500 American companies are represented in Venezuela, as per Wikipedia.