On 3 January 2026, the United States Army carried out bombings in Caracas and in other regions in the north of Venezuela, resulting in the detention of the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, as well as at least 40 deaths. Maduro was taken to the United States, where he remains in a prison in New York awaiting trial by the American justice system.

Experts state that the real interest of the US government lies, among other things, in Venezuelan oil. The country has the largest oil reserves in the world, with around 303 billion barrels (one fifth of the world’s reserves). In 1976, the government nationalised the industry and created the state-owned company PDVSA. Until then, almost all exploration and production had been carried out by foreign companies. With nationalisation, the State assumed full control of oil, abolished private concessions, and compensated the foreign companies. Chevron is the only major American oil company that still operates in Venezuela (with formal permission from the United States).

It is said that the White House and State Department officials have told U.S. oil executives in recent weeks that they would need to return to Venezuela quickly and invest significant capital in the country to revive the damaged oil industry if they wanted compensation for expropriated assets.

After the US administration announced plans to take control of the Venezuelan oil industry and said American companies would revitalise it, shares of major U.S. companies in the energy sector are sharply higher.

Companies have so far remained silent on this claim.