Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves, but it is also home to a bevy of raw materials and minerals that US President Donald Trump has his eye on.

As bne IntelliNews reported, minerals diplomacy is at the heart of Trump’s foreign policy. Acutely aware of the US dependency the import of critical minerals and rare earth metals (REMs) from China, Trump has been actively trying to source supplies from other countries.

The US toppled Venezuela’s president with Operation Maduro on January 3 and Trump has made it explicit that he wants to restart oil imports to feed US refineries that are geared to dealing with Venezuela’s super-heavy oil, but the country has many other resources to offer.

“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 January 11 from aboard Air Force One Al Jazeera reports. “President Trump is going to fix it and bring it back.”

Oil

Venezuela sits on one of the world’s richest endowments of mineral resources, led by oil, gas and gold, yet decades of underinvestment, sanctions and political instability have sharply constrained its ability to monetise them.

As of 2023, global proven oil reserves stood at about 1.73 trillion barrels, with Venezuela alone accounting for 303bn barrels, the largest share worldwide and more than five times the 55.25bn barrels held by the US and over three-times more than Russia’s 80bn barrels.

Venezuela is a founding member of OPEC, established in Baghdad in September 1960 alongside Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Its oil reserves are concentrated primarily in the Orinoco Belt, a vast area of around 55,000 square kilometres (21,235 square miles) controlled by the state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela.

The Orinoco Belt is home to the bulk of the deposits, an extra-heavy crude, which is highly viscous and expensive to extract. This makes it structurally less competitive than lighter crudes, and it typically trades at a discount to US shale oil.

Venezuela was once a major exporter to the US, supplying 1.5–2mn barrels per day in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Production has since collapsed but showed signs of recovery in 2024, averaging 952,000 barrels per day, up from 783,000 bpd in 2023, according to PDVSA data reported by OPEC. Oil exports generated $17.52bn in revenue in 2024, according to Reuters. Following Venezuela’s decapitation, Trump said Venezuela would sell the US 30mn-50mn barrels of oil.

China is now Venezuela’s largest customer. Of total exports, 778,000 barrels per day were sent to China, giving Beijing an 81.7% share. The US accounted for 15.8%, followed by Cuba with nearly 2.5%. On January 11, Donald Trump told Venezuela it could no longer export oil to Cuba or China.

Gas

Venezuela also ranks ninth globally for natural gas reserves. According to the International Energy Agency, as of 2023 the country held about 5.5 trillion cubic metres  of gas.

This represents 73% of South America’s total natural gas reserves, underscoring Venezuela’s strategic importance in the region’s long-term energy balance. However, around 80% of Venezuela’s gas output is associated gas, produced as a byproduct of oil extraction, limiting its independent commercial development.

However, the badly managed sector and old equipment means that Venezuela releases huge amounts of methane into the atmosphere, which will be an ESG problem for potential investors.  Gas production is almost all associated with oil production as a by-product.

Gold and other minerals

Venezuela holds the largest official gold reserves in Latin America. The World Gold Council estimates central bank holdings at 161.2 metric tonnes, worth more than $23bn at current prices. The country is also believed to possess large untapped gold resources, though official data is outdated.

In 2011, former president Hugo Chávez launched the Orinoco Mining Arc. In February 2016, Nicolás Maduro expanded the project, designating 12% of national territory for mining and citing reserves of diamonds, nickel, coltan and copper.

In 2018, Maduro announced a “Gold Plan” and signed mining agreements worth an estimated $5.5bn, but none materialised. Most mines remain under the control of non-state armed groups. A 2018 report by the Ministry of Ecological Mining Development estimated at least 644 metric tonnes of gold, while officials said actual volumes could be significantly higher.

The same 2018 minerals catalogue estimated 3bn metric tonnes of certified coal reserves, 14.68bn metric tonnes of iron ore (with 3.6bn tonnes proven), 407,885 metric tonnes of nickel, 99.4mn metric tonnes of bauxite, and diamond reserves of 1,020mn carats in the Orinoco Mining Arc, including 275mn carats in Guanaimo.