Trump taking ‘drill, baby, drill’ plan to Venezuela ‘terrible’ for climate, experts warn

<p>‘Everybody loses’ if production supercharged in country with largest known oil reserves, critics say</p><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump">Donald Trump</a>, by dramatically seizing <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/nicolas-maduro">Nicolás Maduro</a> and claiming dominion over <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/venezuela">Venezuela</a>’s vast oil reserves, has taken his “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/12/trump-fossil-fuels-oil-and-gas">drill, baby, drill</a>” mantra global. Achieving the president’s dream of supercharging the country’s oil production would be financially challenging – and if fulfilled, would be “terrible for the climate”, experts say.</p><p>Trump has aggressively sought to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jan/22/trump-big-oil-energy-priorities-explained">boost oil and gas production</a> within the US. Now, following the capture and arrest of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, he is seeking to orchestrate a ramp-up of drilling in Venezuela, which has the largest known reserves of oil in the world – equivalent to some 300bn barrels, <a href="https://knowledge.energyinst.org/search/record?id=58930">according to</a> research firm the Energy Institute.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/06/trump-venezuela-oil-climate-crisis">Continue reading...</a>