Following the abduction of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro last week, the administration of US President Donald Trump has stated that it wants to quickly restore the country’s oil production and expand its mining sector.

“You have steel, you have minerals, all the critical minerals, they have great mining history that’s gone rusty,” US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told reporters on Sunday from aboard Air Force One. “President Trump is going to fix it and bring it back.”

So, what reserves and resources does Venezuela have?

Largest known oil reserves

Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves, estimated at 303 billion barrels as of 2023, more than five times the amount the United States has, which is 55.25 billion barrels.

Venezuela is also one of the founding members of OPEC (the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries), having established the group in Baghdad in September 1960 alongside Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia.

(Al Jazeera)

Venezuela’s oil reserves are concentrated primarily in the Orinoco Belt, a vast region in the eastern part of the country stretching across roughly 55,000 square kilometres (21,235 square miles), which is controlled by Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA).

The Orinoco Belt holds extra-heavy crude oil, which is highly viscous and dense, making it much harder and more expensive to extract than conventional crude oil. As a result, it typically sells at a discount compared to lighter, sweeter crudes, such as those extracted from US shale.

Refining oil from this region requires advanced techniques that the US possesses, particularly in the states of Texas and Louisiana.

Who buys Venezuelan oil?

Venezuela was once a major oil exporter. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, it supplied roughly 1.5 to 2 million barrels per day to the United States, making it one of the US’s largest foreign oil sources.

However, political instability, mismanagement at PDVSA, a lack of investment, and US sanctions on the country’s energy industry have led to falling production.

In 2024, Venezuela produced an average of 952,000 barrels per day (bpd), compared to 783,000 bpd in 2023, according to PDVSA’s results as reported by OPEC. PDVSA’s oil sales abroad in 2024 amounted to $17.52bn, according to a Reuters report.

China is the largest buyer of Venezuelan crude oil and has been for the past decade. In November 2025, before the US military blockade began in December, Venezuela exported 952,000 barrels per day.

Of this, 778,000 barrels were sent to China, giving Beijing an 81.7 percent share of Venezuela’s oil exports. The US is the second-largest buyer, importing 15.8 percent of Venezuelan oil; followed by Cuba, which imported nearly 2.5 percent.

Natural gas

Venezuela ranks ninth in the world for natural gas reserves.

According to the International Energy Agency, as of 2023, Venezuela’s gas deposits totalled around 5.5 trillion cubic metres (195 trillion cubic feet), accounting for 73 percent of the total natural gas reserves in South America.

Most of these reserves are linked to crude oil, with around 80 percent of produced natural gas being a byproduct of oil production.

Vehicles drive past the El Palito oil refinery in Puerto Cabello, Venezuela, on Sunday, December 21, 2025 [Matias Delacroix/AP Photo]

Gold

Venezuela possesses the largest official gold reserves in Latin America.

According to the World Gold Council, which monitors central bank holdings globally, Venezuela’s reserves are approximately 161.2 metric tonnes, worth more than $23bn in today’s market value.

Venezuela is also believed to hold some of the most significant untapped gold resources, but official data is outdated.

In 2011, former President Hugo Chavez announced the Orinoco Mining Arc, which would explore, nationalise and export metals. In February 2016, Maduro set out to further develop the area, with 12 percent of the country marked for mining across several states. The government said there were diamonds, nickel, coltan and copper reserves that it would mine.

In 2018, Maduro announced a “Gold Plan” to encourage investment in gold after signing mining deals with a number of foreign companies worth an estimated $5.5bn. However, none of these deals materialised, and most mines have remained under the control of non-state armed groups.

A 2018 mineral report by Venezuela’s Ministry of Ecological Mining Development estimated that the country holds at least 644 metric tonnes of gold, but the Venezuelan government has stated that the actual numbers could be much higher.

What other minerals does Venezuela have?

The 2018 minerals catalog estimated:

• Certified coal reserves of roughly 3 billion metric tonnes
• 14.68 billion metric tonnes of iron ore, of which 3.6 billion are proven
• 407,885 metric tonnes of nickel reserves
• Measured bauxite amounting to 99.4 million metric tonnes
• Reported reserves of diamonds amounting to 1,020 million carats in the Orinoco Mining Arc and 275 million carats alone in the area of Guanaimo