If this would have been done in the Middle East we would have several less trillion in debt.

It's time for Venezuela to pay back America for the past couple of months, and all previous foreign aid. After that is repaid we can be more equitable partners in the business.

"High quality" is somewhat debatable………

Sound like a lot but only a couple of weeks of Texas production.

Call me when it is a "a routine work place" for the American EX pat.

B-1 83 said:

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"High quality" is somewhat debatable………

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It's like he's trying to soften the blow by throwing them a complement...but missed the mark lol

"Wasn't about the oil"

Have a third to go to refill the SPR.

redseven94 said:

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"Wasn't about the oil"

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It's going to be ok. Stopping the narco terrorists and getting paid in the process. Sounds like a win to me.

🚨 Via ABC News: Trump has told Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodriguez that she must meet U.S. demands before being allowed to pump more oil

First, the country must kick out China, Russia, Iran, and Cuba and sever economic ties

Second, Venezuela must agree to partner… pic.twitter.com/UvQR9GVQeU

— Ryan Saavedra (@RyanSaavedra) January 7, 2026

Interesting. Wonder if there's something other than oil on that ship.

Quote:
This story just keeps getting wilder and wilder the allegedly empty Iranian shadow fleet tanker that was going to go to Venezuela but then turned around and has been chased by the Coast guard across the Atlantic changed its registration to Russia. The Coast guard attempted several boardings of the vessel and were rebuffed and now the Russian Navy is sending a submarine and surface combatants to protect the allegedly normal empty tanker from Iran.

This story just keeps getting wilder and wilder the allegedly empty Iranian shadow fleet tanker that was going to go to Venezuela but then turned around and has been chased by the Coast guard across the Atlantic changed its registration to Russia. The Coast guard attempted… https://t.co/28Zr16c1QV

— Intelschizo (@Schizointel) January 7, 2026

BOOOOM!!!


What tanker???

Fitch said:

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Interesting. Wonder if there's something other than oil on that ship.

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The ship could be a surveillance node, full of drugs, have putin's personal vacation cabin retrofitted on the inside...who knows.

Would've been an interesting ship to take possession of.

Trump needs a flatbed to haul around his cojones

Update: nevermind, cnbc botched if and just had to re clarify. Oil given to us, us will sell and keep funds in banks, and once VZ proves they will play ball the US will reinvest.

redseven94 said:

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"Wasn't about the oil"

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Yeah, go ahead and ignore that the oil was stolen. Ignore the narco terrorism. Ignore the human rights violations. This is what is needed to fit your square narrative into a round hole.

Of course it is about the oil. It is for pretty much every party involved, in part or in full. That is the reality we live in in a world where major political and economic outcomes ride on access to energy. For America, we had multiple interests involved: drug trafficking, oil, geopolitical dealings with our political enemies and rivals, regional stability, and so on. Oil matters, and control over access to it that is a strategic deterrent to our global opposition is important, as is having prosperous allies in our region.

TexAgs91 said:

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redseven94 said:

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"Wasn't about the oil"

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Yeah, go ahead and ignore that the oil was stolen. Ignore the narco terrorism. Ignore the human rights violations. This is what is needed to fit your square narrative into a round hole.

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Don't forget Trump is a Russian spy and Putin's stooge

MouthBQ98 said:

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Of course it is about the oil. It is for pretty much every party involved, in part or in full. That is the reality we live in in a world where major political and economic outcomes ride on access to energy. For America, we had multiple interests involved: drug trafficking, oil, geopolitical dealings with our political enemies and rivals, regional stability, and so on. Oil matters, and control over access to it that is a strategic deterrent to our global opposition is important, as is having prosperous allies in our region.

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Oil for Russia, oil for China, oil for Venezuela, oil for Cuba, oil for Iran are all perfectly fine for the dems and leftists. Only oil for America is a problem. Which tells you that it isn't about the oil, it is about America, and more specifically, their disdain for it.

I really, really hope it's the case that the profits from Venezuelan oil go directly to the Venezuelan people. No politicians from the US with their grubby fingers getting kickbacks first. And making sure in Venezuela it gets to the actual PEOPLE, and not those "in power".

But I have little faith.

Just a couple days ago most on this forum attacked anyone who claimed this was about natural resource/geopolitical dynamics, and NOT drugs.

We saw the same thing on F16 in support of the Iran "immenent nuke threat". Of course no one admits they were wrong.

Well to be fair Iran no longer has a nuke threat

This is incorrect, most sensible people have responded that it is about many different issues including, world politics, drugs, oil, etc. and NOT about whatever single cause was promoted by the post they were responding to.

It's naive to think the main driver was narcotics. And yes, it's about oil. But not in the way most leftists claim. It's not that Trump is only after "cheap oil & profits". It's to hurt Venezuela's largest buyers of oil....China, Russia, Cuba, etc. And I'm okay with hurting them while also benefiting from a potential new supply of oil for the US. Win/win

And I'm also selfishly hopeful that this means some job security for me, since I work for an O&G upstream service provider. Get some big projects sent our way to overhaul the Venezuelan O&G network would be nice.

MouthBQ98 said:

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Of course it is about the oil. It is for pretty much every party involved, in part or in full.

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But you are on the Greenland threads questioning why we would engage them if they arent "pushing drugs killing our citizens by the thousands".

This implies drugs were a critical element, when they weren't. You are just one example of many.

AJ02 said:

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It's naive to think the main driver was narcotics. And yes, it's about oil. But not in the way most leftists claim. It's not that Trump is only after "cheap oil & profits". It's to hurt Venezuela's largest buyers of oil....China, Russia, Cuba, etc. And I'm okay with hurting them while also benefiting from a potential new supply of oil for the US. Win/win

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If the US gets a new supplier of oil, what does that do to the US market suppliers? Would that drop the cost of a barrel below the profit margin?

FobTies said:

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Just a couple days ago most on this forum attacked anyone who claimed this was about natural resource/geopolitical dynamics, and NOT drugs.

We saw the same thing on F16 in support of the Iran "immenent nuke threat". Of course no one admits they were wrong.

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Do you have citations to "most" on this forum saying it has nothing to do with oil?

Again, we convicted Al Capone on Tax Fraud.

Although his arrest and conviction were specifically about tax fraud, nothing about the motivations for going after Al Capone had to do with Tax Fraud.

If you don't want the US to arrest you for being a Mafia Boss:

1) Be really careful to distance yourself from Mafia business so that the Feds can't tie you to it; and
2) Pay your taxes.

So:

1) You can sell oil to China and Russia
2) You can smuggle drugs into the US.
3) You CANNOT do both. We will take your oil.

The legal case against Maduro is all about the drug smuggling (and, might be about illegal nationalization of US assets by the end, but right now it is about the drugs). The reason we targeted him as opposed to the Mexican Cartel is because the Mexican Cartel has less crude oil to their name. That doesn't mean that the Mexican Cartel isn't deserving of attention from the US. But that doesn't mean that the only reason that we got Maduro was due to the oil.

It was both, together. And, that is fine.

BusterAg said:

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Do you have citations to "most" on this forum saying it has nothing to do with oil?

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Posts before capture, and early posts after, were filled with justification around drug boats and Maduro cartel ties. It was all over this thread, def more than 50% of posts were about a drug smuggler fugitive killing our citizens. Id also say well over 85% of the posters here were claiming the Iran strikes were about nuke development.

I could waste time digging up a lot more posts, but why? Are you really questioning whether "narco terrorism" and "imminent nuke threats" were wide spread narratives bought hook line and sinker by the masses?

There was a massive shift after the fact, when Trump and others just addressed the oil directly. MouthBQ is just one example in this verry thread...first it was about drugs and terrorism:

then couple days later, of course it was always about oil:


Edit- here is a seperate thread on this specific topic, so we dont hijack this thread
https://texags.com/forums/16/topics/3590604/replies/71695965

TexasAggie73 said:

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AJ02 said:

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It's naive to think the main driver was narcotics. And yes, it's about oil. But not in the way most leftists claim. It's not that Trump is only after "cheap oil & profits". It's to hurt Venezuela's largest buyers of oil....China, Russia, Cuba, etc. And I'm okay with hurting them while also benefiting from a potential new supply of oil for the US. Win/win

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If the US gets a new supplier of oil, what does that do to the US market suppliers? Would that drop the cost of a barrel below the profit margin?

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Depends. How long is the runway before Venezuela is fully retrofitted/updated and producing? Do we have the refineries capable of refining it stateside?

Short term I don't see it having a huge impact on Permian and domestic drilling (but I could be wrong). I see it maybe driving up the demand for drilling services/equipment for service providers. And if they have to build/modify refineries to process the Venezuelan oil that would be good for us.

Long term? Assuming it's a stable supply? (And that's a big IF). Seems like it would probably impact domestic drilling assuming it's cheaper to extract and refine their oil. But I don't know and I could be way off-base. But either way, I don't think we're going to see Venezuelan oil supplanting our current supply anytime soon.