Venezuelan oil imports help US refineries counter China influence

At first glance, it seems like a contradiction, and the left was quick to call it a moral failure.

America is swimming in oil, yet President Donald Trump has moved to bring Venezuelan crude to American refineries. If the United States is energy independent, they ask, why does it buy oil from Venezuela at all? After years of sanctions and pressure on Caracas, isn’t this hypocrisy?

The answer is no. It’s a strategy. It starts with a basic fact that many commentators ignore: America has a lot of oil, but not always the right kind.

The shale revolution, fueled by hydraulic fracturing, has transformed energy production in the United States. It flooded global markets with light, sweet crude and made the United States the world’s largest oil producer. This achievement strengthened national security and broke OPEC’s old grip.

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But fracking has also changed the mix of oil America produces.

Much of the U.S. refining system — especially along the Gulf Coast — was built decades ago to process heavy, sour crude. These refineries have invested billions in specialized equipment such as coke, hydrocrackers, and desulfurization units designed to efficiently convert thick, high-sulfur oil into gasoline and diesel.

When these refineries cannot access enough heavy crude oil, they operate at less than optimal efficiency. Yields decrease. Costs rise. Fuel supplies are becoming more fragile. When hurricanes, power outages, or global unrest strike, this fragility quickly hits the pump.

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Here comes the role of Venezuelan oil.

Venezuela produces some of the heaviest crude oil in the world — exactly the type that many U.S. Gulf Coast refineries are designed to run. Routing those barrels to U.S. ports allows these refineries to operate closer to their design capacity. The result is clear and straightforward: more gasoline, more diesel, lower prices, and a more stable fuel supply.

This is energy economics. Strategic gains in the American hemisphere are no less important.

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For years, China has been a major buyer of Venezuela, using murky shipping arrangements and debt leverage to tie Caracas to dependency while expanding Beijing’s influence across Latin America. When Venezuelan barrels flow to American refineries instead of Chinese refineries, Beijing loses this influence.

As for Russia, Moscow thrives on sanctions evasion, proxy ties, and instability near the US border. Venezuela’s oil trade, based on transparent markets and allied with the United States, significantly limits Russia’s ability to use Venezuela as a geopolitical leverage point in the Western Hemisphere.

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The shale revolution, fueled by hydraulic fracturing, has transformed energy production in the United States. It flooded global markets with light, sweet crude and made the United States the world’s largest oil producer. This achievement strengthened national security and broke OPEC’s old grip.

Then there is Cuba – the most overlooked, but most important, link. This communist island prison is an active platform for intelligence gathering, political interference and regional subversion. Cuba exports security services, embeds itself in allied regimes throughout Latin America, and acts as a conduit for Russian and Chinese influence. Subsidized Venezuelan oil was the lifeline that kept this regime alive.

Cutting off this support would weaken the communist outpost exporting repression and instability throughout the region. Instability has consequences. Failed states and hostile actors drive migration pressures that eventually reach the southern border of the United States. These pressures do not arise in a vacuum; Rather, it is the end result of poor energy and security policy in our hemisphere.

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President Trump understands what his critics never understood: a foreign policy that stabilizes fuel prices, strengthens American industry, and weakens America’s adversaries is not hypocrisy.

It’s a smart strategy.