Donald Trump deployed his Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to Venezuela on Wednesday as the president seeks to revive oil and mineral production in the South American country.
Burgum, who leads Trump’s National Energy Dominance Council, is expected to meet with officials including acting President Delcy Rodríguez along with mining and oil executives during the trip, a White House official said. He’s also expected to unveil an oil deal while in Venezuela, delivering an early affirmation of Trump’s bid to boost crude production in the country, the official said.
The trip to Caracas come as the US government steps up coordination with Venezuela’s interim government in the wake of the January capture of former President Nicolás Maduro.
Trump is pressing energy companies to spend about $100 billion to rebuild Venezuela’s oil industry, tapping its enormous crude reserves, among the world’s largest, to deliver revenue he says will benefit both Americans and Venezuelans.
The US Treasury Department has already issued licenses authorizing US companies to resume oil development in the country. Under US oversight, Venezuela has sharply increased its oil exports to 788,000 barrels in February, roughly double the prior month.
Venezuela’s crude supplies have come into sharper focus amid the US and Israel’s attacks on Iran that have disrupted the production and flow of oil in the region, including through the Strait of Hormuz. The upheaval — and the threat of more — has already sent global futures surging 16% since the strikes began over the weekend.
Venezuela boasts vast mineral wealth too — from conventional coal to critical coltan, a metallic ore that can be refined to extract tantalum and niobium, which are coveted for use in electronics and aerospace. Burgum told Bloomberg last month that the government is preparing a separate license focused on authorizing mining activity.
Burgum is the latest senior US official to travel to Venezuela, following a February visit by Energy Secretary Chris Wright that focused closely on the country’s oil potential. Wright toured Venezuela’s Orinoco oil belt and, during a meeting with Rodriguez, discussed options for compensating energy companies that lost billions in the country when their assets were nationalized.
For oil and mineral companies, the potential prize is huge. While Venezuela’s recent oil production has struggled to reach 1 million barrels per day, it was pumping out more than three times that in the 1990s. Similarly, the country has sizable reserves of high-quality thermal coal — and made a bid to revive output last year — after production plummeted from 2000, when annual levels were around 8 million tons.
Venezuela also has some of the largest gold deposits in the Western Hemisphere, as well as diamonds and iron ore. And the country lays claim to a host of critical minerals, including bauxite and copper. But simply safely accessing those deposits — much less mounting major commercial extraction efforts — poses risk, with many mines in southern Venezuela long under the control of criminal groups.
Human rights and conservation groups have warned about the toll of extraction in the region’s illegal mines, which they say imperils children, workers and the environment. Just as US officials pressed Venezuela to overhaul its petroleum law — seen essential to enable the return of Western companies — they are expected to seek changes around mining too.
Mining companies have also lost assets in Venezuela when industries were effectively nationalized. Peabody Energy Corp. previously mined coal in the country as a part owner of the Paso Diablo mine in northwest Venezuela near Colombia. However, Venezuela refused to renew Peabody’s license in 2013.
That history has driven caution by some oil and mining companies that are wary of pouring tens of billions of dollars into the country over the next decade, amid persistent concerns about the stability of a post-Maduro government. For coal interests, uncertain demand presents another challenge; usage was flat in 2025 and is expected to slowly decline, according to the International Energy Agency.
“I would think there would be a lot of hesitation about going back in to Venezuela,” said Andy Blumenfeld, director of data analytics at McCloskey by OPIS.
Some executives have told the Trump administration they are looking for guarantees of physical and financial security to further whet their appetite for a return.
(By Jennifer A. Dlouhy)
