For weeks Donald Trump had justified his hardening Policy towards Venezuela with complaints about alleged massive drug shipments to the USA. This narrative served as support for the campaign of attacks against ships in the Caribbean and for the deployment of the largest military concentration seen in Latin America in recent years, off the coast of Venezuela. However, in recent days, the former president added a new argument that surprised even regular observers of the conflict.
On Tuesday, Trump announced a “total and complete blockade of the sanctioned oil tankers” To enter or leave Venezuela until the South American country “returns to the United States all the oil, land and other assets previously stolen from us.” The reference to alleged oil theft caused confusion as it was not part of previous allegations against the government Nicolas Maduro.
The idea was reiterated the next day by Stephen Miller, national security adviser and a central figure in Trump’s Cabinet. In his opinion “American sweat, ingenuity and dedication created Venezuela’s oil industry.”and its expropriation would have been “the greatest theft of American wealth and property ever recorded.” Miller also alleged that these assets were used to finance terrorism and criminal activities.
Given these statements, questions inevitably arose: What role did the United States really play in the development of Venezuelan oil? Is there any historical evidence to speak of a robbery?
The origin of the Venezuelan oil industry
Venezuelawhich has the largest proven crude oil reserves in the world, began this develop its oil industry on a large scale in the 1920s, during the government of Juan Vicente Gómez. The exploitation was initially concentrated in the Lake Maracaibo area, marking the beginning of what is known in the country as “el Reventón”.
In this context, American companies became more important and displaced British and Dutch capital. The Venezuelan state awarded concessions to private companies, which were later taken over by foreign companies due to the lack of local capital and technology. Among them stood out Standard oilthe Rockefeller family, through its subsidiary Creole Petroleum Company.
According to experts, these contracts were very favorable for the companies initial royalties of 7% and caused significant environmental impactwithout compensation for the affected communities.
The 1940s renegotiations, nationalization and the creation of PDVSA in the 1970s
In 1943, Venezuela promoted a new hydrocarbon law under the presidency of Isaías Medina Angarita. The state kept 50% of the profits and increased royalties to 16%. In addition, concessions were limited to 40 years and the construction of refineries in the country was forced.
The measure was not an imposition, but was negotiated and welcomed USAwhich valued Venezuela as a strategic supplier during the Second World War and wanted to avoid an abrupt nationalization like that which took place in Mexico in 1938.
The world looked different when Carlos Andrés Pérez became president in 1974 with a promise to nationalize oil. Venezuela was already the world’s largest exporter of crude oil and had been one of the sponsors of the creation of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) a few years earlier.
The then president created Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), However, unlike other proceedings, there were no serious conflicts with the American companies, which were compensated for the remaining years of the concession. USA He maintained good relations with the Venezuelan government and his companies remained linked to the sector through contracts with PDVSA and access to crude oil, allowing them to continue making millions.
The conflict during Chavismo
The situation changed with the arrival of Hugo Chavez in 1999. After a violent confrontation with the PDVSA leadership and an internal purge, the government promoted a “renationalization” of oil. Since 2001, projects have required a state majority and license fees have been charged. Starting in 2004, as crude oil prices rose, the president forced a renegotiation of contracts with PDVSA, which until then had been big business for international oil companies.
With the funds he gained, Chávez was able to finance his extensive aid programs and aggressive international policies, which enabled him to establish himself as an alternative to US hegemony in Latin America.
Chevron agreed to remain in Venezuela under the new conditions and continues to produce oil in the country. Companies like ExxonMobil And ConocoPhillips They left the country and demanded compensation in international courts.
ExxonMobil filed for arbitration with the World Bank’s International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), which ruled that it should be compensated about $1.6 billion. This number was well below their original claims, the victory of ExxonMobil about the government of Venezuela was described as “empty” in the press of the time.
ConocoPhillips also won the ICSID lawsuit and received much higher compensation because the ruling concluded that the The expropriation of his assets was unlawful and that the Venezuelan state did not act in good faith in negotiating compensation. However, two decades later, ConocoPhillips is still trying to collect the more than $10 billion the Republic of Venezuela estimates it owes it.
It is currently one of the first Creditors on the waiting list to be collected in the auction of Citgo assetsa PDVSA subsidiary in the United States that is involved in a long and ongoing legal process.
Does Venezuela owe the United States oil?
Venezuela is accumulating an estimated debt of $150,000 milliona product of unpaid government and PDVSA bonds, but also loans from allies such as China and Russia. In this sense, Maduro has been arguing for years that the economic problems of Venezuela They are due to US sanctions that limit oil exports.
And although experts argue that the pronounced decline in Venezuelan oil production – which now stands at about 1.3 million barrels per day, while it once peaked at 3.7 million – is largely due to mismanagement and corruption during the Chávez and Maduro years, in addition to poorly carried out expropriations, Venezuelan oil has never been the property of the United States. This means that foreign companies only had concessions to use them.
For experts, the statements from Trump and his entourage are a reaction to one exaggerated political rhetoricwithout historical support. Therefore, it would not be accurate to claim that Venezuela stole oil from the United States. Finally, as for the fact that the “American sweat” gave birth to the oil industry in Venezuela, despite the presence of foreign investment and knowledge, The Venezuelan oil industry was built on the resources and labor of Venezuelans.
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