According to the Washington Post, Juan Vicente Gomez, who ruled Venezuela from 1908 to 1935, granted concessions to three foreign oil companies that gave them the right to control 98 percent of the Venezuelan market.
At that time, oil in Venezuela, which had become the world's second-largest oil producer and largest exporter, accounted for more than 90 percent of the country's total exports.
But Gomez's successors wanted to have more influence over the country's economy. In 1943, during the rule of former President Isaias Medina Angarita, a law was passed requiring foreign oil companies to hand over half of their profits to the government.
Then, in 1976, the state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) took over oil exploration, production, refining and exportation in order to nationalize Venezuela's oil reserves, which were then operated by hundreds of private and foreign companies such as US Exxon and Mobil.
After the election of Hugo Chávez as President of Venezuela, the state's share in the oil sector was increased from 2007.
US President Donald Trump said of Venezuela on December 18, 2025: “They took away all of our energy rights. They recently took all of our oil illegally.” Although he used the following statements, the nationalization of Venezuela's oil sector is seen as the result of decades of government efforts.
Foreign companies are demanding compensation
The nationalization process in Venezuela was negatively influenced by the US oil companies Exxon and Mobil, which merged in 1999, as well as Gulf Oil, which was renamed Chevron in 1984, and Shell, based in the Netherlands.
According to newspapers at the time, these companies, responsible for more than 70 percent of Venezuela's crude oil production, suffered losses of about $5 billion but received $1 billion in compensation each.
During the nationalization process, the companies ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips did not accept the new contract terms and demanded compensation of around $40 billion through arbitration.
Companies like Chevron and Spain-based Repsol remained in Venezuela with new agreements. Chevron was the only US company that continued to operate in Venezuela.
Subsequently, the International Chamber of Commerce decided to pay $908 million in compensation to ExxonMobil in 2012 and $2 billion to ConocoPhillips in 2018. The World Bank-affiliated International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes decided to pay $1.6 billion in compensation to ExxonMobil in 2014 and $8.7 billion to ConocoPhillips in 2019.
Venezuela, which is suffering economic difficulties due to hyperinflation and sanctions, has not yet paid these compensations in full.
According to economist Rodriguez, Trump's claim is “baseless.”
Commenting on the issue, Venezuelan economist Francisco Rodriguez of the University of Denver in the US said: “Trump's claim that Venezuela is stealing oil and land from the US is baseless.” he said.
Rodriguez explained that at the time the US would rather see the country become a relatively cheap supplier of oil than for Venezuela's production to collapse, explaining that although Venezuela was paying reparations, the US had “made this payment more difficult with its sanctions and accused the country of stealing something from them.”
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