President Donald J. Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio headed to Texas on Tuesday to welcome the first tanker of Venezuelan crude to reach the United States under the oil agreement the Trump administration struck with Caracas in August.
The stop doubled as a campaign event, with the commander in chief rallying support for Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton in a tight race against Democrat James Talarico ahead of the November 3 midterms.
Venezuela’s interim authorities granted North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP) 100-year concessions on 17 fields holding roughly 65 billion barrels of proven reserves. In return, the U.S. government received a 35% stake in NABEP’s parent company and the right to buy 20% of its output at production cost.
The oil is meant to help refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve after the prior administration drew it down. In September, the White House said oil from the deal would probably begin reaching U.S. reserves in November. Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth signed the agreement. Venezuela holds an estimated 303 billion barrels of crude, about 17% of global proven reserves; for years sanctions and mismanagement had kept most of it away from U.S. refiners, with Chevron the only significant exporter under special authorization.
A White House official told the New York Post that the cargo, which the administration says came at no cost to taxpayers, “will be the first of the billions of barrels to come from this deal.”
Trump confirmed the stop to reporters before leaving Washington. “They’ve sent me as a gift a boatload of a million barrels of oil, and I’m giving that to the United States of America,” he said. Asked if he would see the tanker, he replied, “I believe we are, yeah,” and added, “We took over Venezuela very successfully.” At the Corpus Christi port rally, he pointed to one of the two tankers, the Angerona. He also floated the idea that Venezuela could one day become a prosperous 51st state, telling the crowd “Let’s make it the 51st state” and suggesting it would elect a governor rather than a president.
The president posted on Truth Social, “Gasoline and Diesel Prices will soon come plummeting down — JUST WATCH!”
The crude is headed for Texas refineries, which were built to process heavy Venezuelan grades. An OPIS analyst had previously noted that additional volumes of this type of crude “could help keep gasoline and diesel prices at better levels.” A White House official said the cargo would be sold to refineries run by Exxon Mobil and Citgo Petroleum.
The shipment followed the January 3 operation in which U.S. forces captured Nicolás Maduro, who was brought to New York to face federal narco-terrorism, drug trafficking and weapons charges. Since then, the administration has kept pressure on the interim government led by acting President Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s longtime vice president and a loyal defender of his socialist government, using its leverage to keep her cooperating while Washington sets the terms on oil.
For the first time in years, heavy Venezuelan crude is flowing again to the Gulf Coast under an American-controlled stake, and the administration is treating the arrival as both an energy and a political milestone.
The first tanker is only the start. Additional shipments under the NABEP deal are expected as the company targets a sharp increase in production beyond its current roughly 223,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. What began as an agreement signed by Rubio and Hegseth is now delivering barrels to Texas ports. For the administration, it is a clear energy win for the American people. It means renewed access to the heavy crude U.S. refiners were designed to run, and a tangible step toward greater supply and lower prices.
