There's been uproar and condemnation aplenty over America's sudden assault on the once enshrined concept of national sovereignty, overthrowing eight decades of rigidly enforced global order.

Almost 35 years ago, George Bush Senior ordered US troops to lead a 42-nation United Nations force into Kuwait to defend the gulf state against an invasion by Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

Ostensibly, the first Gulf War was all about protecting the concept of national sovereignty. In reality, it was all about oil.

Last weekend, Donald Trump jettisoned that lofty ideal, justifying the capture of Nicolás Maduro and his wife on the grounds that Venezuela and its leadership posed an existential threat to US security.

While debate rages over the legality and the potential fallout from America's incursion, there's been a quiet acceptance that, once again, it was all about oil.

The US president has done little to persuade anyone otherwise.

In addition to waxing lyrical over his brilliantly executed military operation, he's boasted about the riches that he expects to flow from the Latin American country, money that he will personally control.

Venezuela's interim leaders would turn over 30 million to 50 million barrels of oil, he announced on Wednesday, our time, via social media, which the US would sell at market rates instead of the heavily discounted rate it has been offloading its energy.

"And that money will be controlled by me, as president of the United States of America, to ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States!" he said.

The not-so-subtle subtext is clear. America will become the global energy powerhouse. It's already the world's biggest oil producer, and by pulling Venezuelan oil into its orbit it will be able to control global energy prices.

Venezuelans celebrate in Chile after President Nicolás Maduro was captured and flown out of Venezuela. (AP: Esteban Felix)

But scratch just a little beneath the surface of all the bluster and it becomes apparent that Trump's play for Venezuela's oil riches may not be all it's cracked up to be.

He may have just landed a dud.

No price control without oil flow

Even before the smoke had cleared over Caracas, global leaders, financial market types and the media quickly became fixated on oil.

Venezuela, we're consistently told, has the world's biggest oil reserves, bigger than Saudi Arabia's.

America's grab for control could deliver it the same kind of market power flexed by the Saudis and its OPEC allies back in the 70s.

OPEC reshaped the global economy 50 years ago when it pushed through two massive price hikes, creating an inflation spike throughout the developed world.