Trump official says Venezuela oil recovery on track after Maduro ouster

The Trump administration views the recovery of Venezuela's oil sector as broadly on track five months after the US military operation that ousted Nicolas Maduro, senior administration officials said June 10 -- with the South American country serving as a key pillar of a broader focus on energy production in the Western Hemisphere.

"We're really only five months out from the Jan. 3 operation," US Assistant Secretary of State for Economic, Energy, and Business Affairs Caleb Orr said during a panel at the Energy Imperatives Summit in Washington. "It may feel longer than that, but I think we're kind of exactly where you would want to see the relationship on a trajectory."

Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA and foreign partners averaged 1.155 million b/d of crude production in May, compared to 1.130 million b/d in April and 940,0000 b/d in January, according to data from the Ministry of Hydrocarbons. In an April presentation, Executive Vice President Jovanny Martinez told oil industry executives the country expects to produce 1.37 million b/d by the end of 2026.

Orr called Venezuela one of the "signal initiatives" of the administration's energy diplomacy, saying Washington was working with authorities in Caracas "every single day" to restore output. Orr praised the increase in Venezuelan oil production in 2026, but declined to provide a specific long-term recovery timeline, saying the administration was "focused on outcomes ... more than timeframes."

Orr said the administration continued to follow a three-phase plan outlined by Secretary of State Marco Rubio: stabilizing the country and averting collapse, recovering the economy and oil sector, and encouraging an eventual political transition.

Orr said Venezuela's annual inflation had fallen from 600% in 2025 to below 10% on a monthly basis in the latest State Department data. US Gulf Coast refiners configured for heavy crude are "extremely well positioned to benefit from Venezuelan crude coming back online," he said, noting that Europe and India were also buying Venezuelan barrels.