Venezuela turns to OPEC for backing amid US-Venezuela standoff
Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro has appealed to OPEC and its member states for help in confronting what Caracas calls “growing and illegal threats” from the United States.
In a letter sent Sunday to fellow oil-producing nations, Maduro accused the US of attempting to “seize” Venezuela’s vast oil reserves — the largest proven in the world.
He denounced what he described as a US strategy that relies on “lethal military force” against Venezuelan territory, people, and institutions.
Maduro’s appeal comes one day after US President Donald Trump announced via his social-media platform that Venezuela’s airspace should be considered “closed in its entirety,” a move Caracas slammed as an unlawful, colonial-style threat to national sovereignty.
In his letter, Maduro urged OPEC and the broader OPEC+ group to unite in preventing what he described as an aggression that “seriously threatens the balance of the international energy market” — for both oil-producing and consuming countries.
Despite holding around 303 billion barrels of proven oil reserves as of 2023, Venezuela exported only US $4.05 billion worth of crude in that year — a fraction of what many other major oil producers achieved, a consequence experts trace to prolonged U.S. sanctions.
The letter highlights the broader context behind Caracas’s démarche: Washington has ramped up its military presence in the Caribbean, deploying warships, fighter jets and other assets. The US claims these moves are part of an anti-narcotics campaign — but critics argue the figures do not support that narrative.
With tensions escalating, Maduro warned that Venezuela will not bow to “blackmail or threats.” He called on OPEC member states to act collectively to safeguard not only Venezuela’s sovereign resources, but the stability of the global oil market
