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Jamie McGeever: Trump's Venezuela oil grab renews 'petrodollar' issue
By Jamie McGeever
Reuters
Tuesday, January 6, 2026
There were likely many motives behind America's capture and arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday, but one little-discussed factor could be the White House's concerns about the waning global prominence of the "petrodollar."
Venezuela's oil output is currently modest at barely 1 million barrels per day, but its reported reserves of around 300 billion barrels -- 17% of the global stock -- are the world's largest.
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Venezuela's oil output is currently modest at barely 1 million barrels per day, but its reported reserves of around 300 billion barrels -- 17% of the global stock -- are the world's largest.
President Donald Trump has made it clear that the U.S. is interested in tapping this enormous potential, stating that he plans to have U.S. energy majors revitalize the Latin American country's flailing oil industry.
Keeping all this future production within the U.S. orbit could impact more than just energy markets, however, as it would create a lot more petrodollars -- a tool that has long helped the U.S. maintain its dominance in the global financial system.
The term "petrodollar" was coined in the mid-1970s when the U.S. and Saudi Arabia agreed that global oil sales would be denominated in dollars, creating a new source of demand for the greenback and cementing U.S. strategic, economic, and political power. ...
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