Trump to greet Venezuelan oil shipment, calling it a 'gift.' The U.S. paid for it.

… </script><link rel="preload" as="image" imagesrcset="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https%3A%2F%2Fcloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com%2Fwapo%2FWQQ27A7BUC7HZSHLQOTVFJVXEM.JPG&amp;w=440 440w, https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https%3A%2F%2Fcloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com%2Fwapo%2FWQQ27A7BUC7HZSHLQOTVFJVXEM.JPG&amp;w=540 540w, https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https%3A%2F%2Fcloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com%2Fwapo%2FWQQ27A7BUC7HZSHLQOTVFJVXEM.JPG&amp;w=691 691w, https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https%3A%2F%2Fcloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com%2Fwapo%2FWQQ27A7BUC7HZSHLQOTVFJVXEM.JPG&amp;w=767 767w, https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https%3A%2F%2Fcloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com%2Fwapo%2FWQQ27A7BUC7HZSHLQOTVFJVXEM.JPG&amp;w=916 916w, https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https%3A%2F%2Fcloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com%2Fwapo%2FWQQ27A7BUC7HZSHLQOTVFJVXEM.JPG&amp;w=1050 1050w, https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https%3A%2F%2Fcloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com%2Fwapo%2FWQQ27A7BUC7HZSHLQOTVFJVXEM.JPG&amp;w=1200 1200w, https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https%3A%2F%2Fcloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com%2Fwapo%2FWQQ27A7BUC7HZSHLQOTVFJVXEM.JPG&amp;w=1280 1280w, https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https%3A%2F%2Fcloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com%2Fwapo%2FWQQ27A7BUC7HZSHLQOTVFJVXEM.JPG&amp;w=1440&amp;impolicy=high_res 1440w" imagesizes="min(592px, 100vw - 80px)" fetchpriority="high"><script type="application/ld+json">{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","mainEntityOfPage":"https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/10/27/trump-greet-venezuelan-oil-shipment-calling-it-gift-us-paid-it/","headline":"Trump to greet Venezuelan oil shipment, calling it a ‘gift.’ The U.S. paid for it.","dateModified":"2026-10-27T21:23:16.726Z","datePublished":"2026-10-27T21:19:11.120Z","description":"The discounted crude is arriving in the U.S. as part of a deal with a firm controlled by a Venezuelan billionaire and is not expected to affect gas prices.","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Anthony Faiola","url":"https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/anthony-faiola/"},"isPartOf":{"@type":["CreativeWork","Product"],"name":"The Washington Post","productID":"washingtonpost.com:basic","description":"Breaking news and analysis on politics, business, world, national news, entertainment and more. In-depth DC, Virginia, Maryland news coverage including traffic, weather, crime, education, restaurant reviews and more.","sku":"https://subscribe.washingtonpost.com","image":"https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https%3A%2F%2Farc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2FRUGLRTKULZB6XPESJMXXJVLTDI.jpeg\u0026w=1440","brand":{"@type":"Brand","name":"The Washington Post"},"offers":{"@type":"Offer","url":"https://subscribe.washingtonpost.com/acquisition?promo=o26"}},"publisher":{"@id":"washingtonpost.com","@type":"NewsMediaOrganization","name":"The Washington Post","url":"https://www.washingtonpost.com"},"isAccessibleForFree":false,"hasPart":{"@type":"WebPageElement","cssSelector":".meteredContent","isAccessibleForFree":false,"value":"President Donald Trump, campaigning for Republicans in hotly contested Texas, claimed Tuesday that he was poised to receive “a gift” of 1 million barrels of oil from Venezuela, following what he described as the U.S. takeover of the country. The big shipment of Venezuelan crude due at a Texas port, however, is not free — but rather, deeply discounted. The shipment is the first under the contract signed in August between the United States and North American Blue Energy Partners, a firm controlled by the Venezuelan billionaire Alejandro Betancourt. Under the deal, the U.S. has the right to purchase 20 percent of NABEP’s crude at $30 a barrel — or less than a third of the current market price, according to two people familiar with the shipment who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press. As part of the U.S. agreement, NABEP secured rights to vast reserves in Venezuela. The crude arriving Tuesday is set to arrive on two different tankers. Oil experts have said the deal is not expected to have a significant impact on U.S. gas prices. U.S. forces captured Venezuela’s former president, Nicolás Maduro, on Jan 3, and Trump has since backed Maduro’s No. 2, Delcy Rodriguez, as interim president. Trump’s words on Tuesday suggested the extent to which the White House is seeking to leverage its influence over oil-rich Venezuela for political benefit at a time of high gas prices amid the ongoing conflict with Iran. “We took over Venezuela very successfully and they’ve sent me as a gift a boatload of a million barrels of oil and I’m going to give that to the United States of America,” Trump told reporters in Texas. He added, “we’re going to accept a million barrels of oil. And I’m going to give it to you people to use it the way you want and oil prices are going to be dropping very sharply very soon.”"},"image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https%3A%2F%2Fcloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com%2Fwapo%2FWQQ27A7BUC7HZSHLQOTVFJVXEM.JPG\u0026w=1600\u0026h=900","width":1600,"height":900},{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https%3A%2F%2Fcloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com%2Fwapo%2FWQQ27A7BUC7HZSHLQOTVFJVXEM.JPG\u0026w=1800\u0026h=1800","width":1800,"height":1800},{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https%3A%2F%2Fcloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com%2Fwapo%2FWQQ27A7BUC7HZSHLQOTVFJVXEM.JPG\u0026w=800\u0026h=600","width":800,"height":600}]}</script><script type="application/ld+json">{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","name":"The Washington Post","position":1,"item":"https://www.washingtonpost.com/"},{"@type":"ListItem","name":"Americas","position":2,"item":"https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/americas/"}]}</script><script type="application/ld+json">{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsMediaOrganization","@id":"washingtonpost.com","name":"The Washington Post","logo":"https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https%3A%2F%2Farc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2FIXXV6UT42RHNTA2LQL5CVZH7NQ.png","url":"https://www.washingtonpost.com/","correctionsPolicy":"https://www.washingtonpost.com/policies-and-standards/","diversityPolicy":"https://www.washingtonpost.com/policies-and-standards/","ethicsPolicy":"https://www.washingtonpost.com/policies-and-standards/","masthead":"https://www.washingtonpost.com/policies-and-standards/masthead/","unnamedSourcesPolicy":"https://www.washingtonpost.com/policies-and-standards/","verificationFactCheckingPolicy":"https://www.washingtonpost.com/policies-and-standards/","foundingDate":"1877-12-06","sameAs":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Washington_Post"}</script><script>(function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-WHNNX8B');</script><script async src="https://g.3gl.net/jp/3543/latest/InitialLoadScript.js"></script><script>(function(){function init(){window.RProfiler.addInfo('pageGroup','render-engine')}window.RProfiler?init():window.addEventListener('GlimpseLoaded',init)})();</script><style>.zva58v0{font-family:var(--wpds-fonts-meta);font-weight:var(--wpds-fontWeights-light);font-size:var(--wpds-fontSizes-100);line-height:var(--wpds-lineHeights-meta);letter-spacing:0;color:var(--wpds-colors-gray80)}.zva58v1{color:var(--wpds-colors-gray80)}.zva58v2{color:var(--wpds-colors-blue80)} …