Trump promises to ‘fill up’ SPR after US-Venezuela oil deal

President Trump said Sunday the U.S. will “fill up” the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) as a result of the oil deal his administration reached with the Venezuelan government.

“One of the things I am going to do with the Venezuelan Oil is fill up the Strategic National Reserves,” Trump wrote on Truth Social , adding the SPR was “virtually emptied” under former President Biden.

“The ‘topping out’ process will begin very shortly, and is a Gift from Venezuela to the People of the United States,” the president added.

Trump said Friday his administration reached a deal with the Venezuelan government to grant the U.S. control of more than 65 billion barrels of oil from the South American country.

Sixty-five billion barrels account for roughly 21 percent of Venezuela’s total proven reserves of roughly 303 billion barrels as of 2023.

Under the deal, Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez granted a private company — a joint venture between the U.S. government and a private operator — 100-year “concessions” for oil fields containing 63 billion barrels of proven reserves, a U.S. official told The Hill.

The official did not name the private operator, but noted the U.S. government will have more than half of the new oil company’s value and will receive 55 percent “effective output” of the joint venture.

The deal, which multiple Democratic lawmakers have criticized , comes after U.S. forces captured former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January.

Rodriguez, who succeeded Maduro as president, said Friday the deal will lead to the development of 17 strategic fields and in excess of $209 billion in tax revenue generated for her government.

“These investments will contribute not only to the recovery and modernization of our industry, but also to our country’s economic growth, the energy security of our hemisphere, and greater balance in international markets,” Rodriguez said in a statement .

In the week ending Aug. 21, the SPR had more than 289.7 million barrels of oil, down nearly 30 percent from the start of this year, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

During Biden’s term, the amount in the SPR fell from 638 million-plus barrels in January 2021 to less than 395 million barrels in January 2025, per the EIA.

The authorized storage capacity of the SPR is 714 million barrels, according to the Energy Department .