The agreement brings the biggest U.S. oil company a step closer to pumping oil again in Venezuela, nearly two decades after it left the country.
Page F139From§Eachthe evening edition — 10 November 2026
Venezuela's 'Gift to the American People' turns out to be addressed to Exxon.
As it ran on the front
Start with the entry, because the entry is dated. On August 30, the posted line read "a Gift from Venezuela to the People of the United States," and the Pentagon's book absorbed 35 percent of a nation's oil reserves under that heading. A gift, by the plain rule of any household ledger, costs the giver and costs the receiver nothing. Run the filing against the table and ask who held the deed the day before that gift arrived.
On September 1, Democracy Now! reported that the United States had struck a deal for majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of Venezuela's oil, nine months after the U.S. military removed President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, from Caracas in a raid, and two months after The New York Times reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had become the day-to-day administrator of the country's finances and resources.…
…(cont) The next day, Chevron, already the largest foreign oil operator working inside Venezuela, announced it would expand its operations there. Two weeks later, on September 16, Continental Resources, the drilling company controlled by Harold Hamm, a donor to the president, announced a deal of its own to start drilling in the country.
That is where the ledger sat until Tuesday, when The New York Times reported that Exxon Mobil, the largest oil company in the United States, had struck a preliminary deal to return to Venezuela, a country it left behind nearly two decades ago. Chevron never left. Continental Resources had never been there at all.
The reserves get a line in the Pentagon's book, no price attached. Flores, the wife removed from Caracas in that raid, gets a request pending in a Brooklyn jail, asking to be released over a heart condition. Hon, a gift that nets the giver a jail cell and nets the receiver three oil companies is not a gift. It is a receivable, and the collection already started.
“They call it a "gift," then the gift shows up on Exxon's books, right behind Chevron's and a Trump donor's drilling outfit. Venezuela's former first lady sits in a Brooklyn jail cell with a heart condition and no exit date, and the oil under her old country keeps changing hands among American companies with a straight face. That is not aid. That's a chop shop wearing a flag.”
“Look, American companies going back into Venezuela is proof the market's stabilizing, not some kind of carve-up — that's energy security. The reserves entering federal books with no price tag just means it was a gift, which, I'll grant you, is a strange way to acquire 35 percent of anything. And the detention matter is a separate legal process, being handled through the — through the... yeah, I don't actually know what process that is.”
Earlier in this story
- Thirty-five percent of Venezuela's oil reserves entered the Pentagon's column with the acquisition line blank, and the public's share of them comes to one barrel in 105,000. By Ruth · the evening edition, 8 November 2026
The receipts
The president said he is giving the oil, taken by the US as part of its seizure of Venezuela, to “you people.”
Two years after the deadly storm, voters are frustrated with a slow recovery — and that could carry a political price.
· The Biggest Oil Deal or Theft at Gunpoint? U.S. Claims Majority Control of Venezuela's Oil Reserves from the morgue, 1 Sep 2026
· Chevron to expand in Venezuela, days after the U.S. and Venezuela strike oil deal from the morgue, 2 Sep 2026
· White House unveils new details of Venezuela agreement from the morgue, 1 Sep 2026
· Harold Hamm’s oil company announces Venezuela deal from the morgue, 16 Sep 2026
· Trump FTC Urged to Prevent 'Two of the Biggest Ripoff Machines in America' From Merging from the morgue, 29 Oct 2026
· Doordash to buy Instacart in $17bn deal it says will expand customer options from the morgue, 29 Oct 2026
· DoorDash buying Instacart for $17B from the morgue, 29 Oct 2026
· DoorDash to buy Instacart for $17bn in major grocery delivery consolidation from the morgue, 29 Oct 2026
· DoorDash reaches $131M deal with NYC for underpaying delivery workers: ‘We screwed up’ from the morgue, 22 Sep 2026
· Mamdani Hails Landmark DoorDash Deal as ‘Largest Settlement for Food Delivery Workers Ever’ from the morgue, 22 Sep 2026
· Trump admin's list of US-designated 'foreign terrorist' groups in Latin America expands to 21 from the morgue, 11 Sep 2026
· Top Trump official reveals how 30-minute military op unlocked Venezuela oil windfall for US buyers from the morgue, 11 Sep 2026
· Ex-Venezuelan first lady Cilia Flores seeks release from NYC jail, citing heart ailment from the morgue, 11 Sep 2026
· New York City protest once again demands release of Maduro and Flores from the morgue, 11 Sep 2026
· Trump Official Denies Stealing Venezuela's Oil One Hour After Boasting Country is 'Forced to Work' With US from the morgue, 6 Sep 2026
· 'Mobster Language': Trump Says Venezuelan Oil Will Replenish US Reserves from the morgue, 30 Aug 2026
· 'Yet Another Trump Grift': Congress Called to Stop US Takeover of Venezuelan Oil Fields from the morgue, 28 Aug 2026
· Tehran threatens attacks after U.S. strikes Iranian tankers from the morgue, 7 Sep 2026
· US forces take out 3 Iranian oil tankers in retaliation from the morgue, 7 Sep 2026
· Oil prices up as Iran says it will expand control over Strait of Hormuz from the morgue, 8 Sep 2026
· Iran live updates: Trump speaks to MBS, says everything will 'work out fine' from the morgue, 13 Sep 2026
· Iran threatens retaliation against U.S. tanker strikes from the morgue, 7 Sep 2026
· U.S. gas prices hit record high for Labor Day from the morgue, 7 Sep 2026
· Ship tracking websites, including Kpler, MarineTraffic, and TankerTrackers, show that three Iranian oil tankers, including two from the National Iranian Tanker Company, have escaped the blockade that from the morgue, 17 Jun 2026
· Iranian state media reports that the United States Navy attempted to capture an Iranian oil tanker. The oil tanker was boarded, commandeered and then returned by Iranian NEDSA marines in a helicopter from the morgue, 3 Nov 2021
· US strikes Iranian rocket launchers in first attack since late July from the morgue, 30 Aug 2026
· An Iranian Navy commander claims on state television that the Iranian Navy forced a U.S. submarine to surface as it transited the Strait of Hormuz and that the submarine violated Iranian territorial w from the morgue, 20 Apr 2023
· Trump Threatens to Rename Strait of Hormuz for Himself as War Pushes Diesel Prices Toward Record High from the morgue, 2 Sep 2026
· Trump floats renaming Strait of Hormuz after himself from the morgue, 2 Sep 2026
· U.S. strikes targets in Iran near Strait of Hormuz as Iran says it is retaliating from the morgue, 1 Sep 2026
· Trump Hammered Over Iran War That Drove Gas Prices Above $4 Per Gallon Every Day in August for First Time Ever from the morgue, 31 Aug 2026
· 'Trump Did It!': At $5.85 a Gallon, Diesel Price Hits All-Time High in US Thanks to War on Iran from the morgue, 4 Sep 2026
· Price of diesel in U.S. hits record as Vance downplays Iran war impact from the morgue, 4 Sep 2026
· Diesel prices hit record high as wars disrupt supply from the morgue, 4 Sep 2026
· Trump vows response to Iran's retaliatory strikes: 'We're going to hit them hard' from the morgue, 31 Aug 2026
· Trump threatens Iran against retaliation for latest U.S. strikes from the morgue, 1 Sep 2026
· Live updates: US, Iran ramp up strikes; incumbents hold on in Massachusetts from the morgue, 2 Sep 2026
· Trump calls Iran conflict "small potatoes" from the morgue, 7 Sep 2026
· Labor Day gas prices are highest ever for holiday from the morgue, 7 Sep 2026
· How ‘Hypermilers’ Are Trying to Beat High Gas Prices from the morgue, 7 Sep 2026
· Fuel prices at record Labor Day high in US thanks to Iran War and refinery issues from the morgue, 7 Sep 2026
· Oil Prices Rise Slightly After U.S. and Iran Trade Strikes from the morgue, 6 Sep 2026
· USS Lincoln heads home as war with Iran escalates from the morgue, 7 Sep 2026
· Lawler disagrees with Trump on Iran war: 'It is certainly not small potatoes' from the morgue, 6 Sep 2026
· OPEC Plus to Keep Oil Production Steady from the morgue, 6 Sep 2026
· Iran War Has Cost the Average American More Than $1,200 Over Six Months, Economist Estimates from the morgue, 1 Sep 2026
· Trump says military conflict in Iran is 'small potatoes for us' from the morgue, 4 Sep 2026
· Wright: US has 'a lot of leverage' in Venezuela after oil deal reached from the morgue, 6 Sep 2026
· Chris Wright explains how Venezuelan crude will ‘fill’ the Strategic Petroleum Reserve from the morgue, 4 Sep 2026
· Energy Secretary Wright says Venezuela oil deal will bring down gas prices in a year or two from the morgue, 4 Sep 2026
· Venezuelan oil flows will lower gas prices in 12-24 months, Wright says in Caracas from the morgue, 2 Sep 2026
· Trump says Venezuelan oil will replenish Strategic Petroleum Reserves from the morgue, 31 Aug 2026
· 'Wealthy Tax Cheats Reaping the Benefits': IRS Audit Revenue Plummets After Trump Purge from the morgue, 1 Sep 2026
· Vance announces additional $858 million in disaster funding during campaign stop in North Carolina from the morgue, 19 Oct 2026
· Western North Carolina Pleaded for Hurricane Help. It Got ICE Instead. from the morgue, 29 Aug 2026
· WATCH LIVE: Vance stumps for Michael Whatley in North Carolina from the morgue, 21 Sep 2026
· Trump continues calls for Venezuela to be 51st state from the morgue, 27 Oct 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.