Business & Economics
Trump Touts India-Venezuela Crude Switch After U.S. Seizure of Caracas Oil Assets
On 1 Feb 2026, President Trump claimed a U.S.–brokered framework in which India will replace Iranian imports with Venezuelan oil and invited China to join, days after Washington assumed control of Venezuelan crude following Nicolás Maduro’s capture.
Focusing Facts
- Trump said Venezuela had offered Washington 50 million barrels of oil worth US$5.2 billion, a shipment he agreed the U.S. would take.
- Semafor reported the U.S. already sold US$500 million of Venezuelan crude, with the proceeds held in Qatar-based accounts under U.S. control.
- Before the December 2025 halt, Venezuela supplied about one-third of Cuba’s daily oil demand, a flow now stopped by a U.S. blockade.
Context
Washington’s direct handling of Venezuelan oil recalls the 1953 CIA-backed coup in Iran that secured Western access to Anglo-Iranian fields, and the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama that placed the Canal under friendly administration. Long-running trends are visible: U.S. use of financial chokepoints and sanctions to redirect global hydrocarbon flows (intensified since the 2014 Russia sanctions) and its readiness to leverage regime change for resource access, a pattern stretching back to the 1890s ‘Banana Republic’ interventions. If India—today the world’s third-largest crude buyer—actually pivots from Iran and Russia to U.S-controlled Venezuelan barrels, it could reset energy geopolitics for decades, entrenching a bipolar commodity order and weakening OPEC-plus cohesion. Alternatively, should New Delhi or Beijing resist, Trump’s proclamation may be remembered like 1971’s abortive U.S. promise of Saudi oil self-sufficiency: more rhetoric than reality. On a 100-year horizon, the episode illustrates how external powers still fight over fossil supply even as climate pressures push an energy transition, underscoring that the carbon age’s imperial politics are proving hard to retire.
Perspectives
Indian opposition-aligned outlets
Asianet News Network, The Hindu, Economic Times — They present Trump’s Venezuela-oil remarks as proof that the Modi government is keeping Indians in the dark about major energy and foreign-policy decisions. Because these organisations quote Congress spokesman Jairam Ramesh at length, their coverage foregrounds domestic political point-scoring and may exaggerate secrecy claims to damage the ruling party ahead of elections.
Pro-business Indian financial media
Zee Business, Free Press Journal — They report Trump’s assertion that an India-Venezuela oil deal is “already done,” stressing the shift away from Iranian and Russian crude and framing it as a pragmatic trade re-alignment encouraged by Washington. Relying almost entirely on Trump’s statements and unnamed Reuters sources, the stories uncritically echo US talking points about redirecting global oil flows, downplaying the lack of Indian government confirmation and possible sovereignty concerns.
Russian state media
TASS — They highlight that Caracas’ share of revenue from US-brokered Venezuelan oil sales is still undecided, hinting the US could reap disproportionate benefits. By emphasising Washington’s control over profits, the coverage fits Moscow’s broader narrative of portraying US energy moves as exploitative while omitting Russia’s own stake in global oil politics.