United States President Donald Trump has said he would permit American oil companies to enter Venezuela and tap into the country’s vast crude oil reserves following a US military operation that resulted in the seizure of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

Trump made the statement on Saturday while addressing a press conference, where he outlined plans for major U.S. energy firms to invest heavily in Venezuela’s oil sector.

“We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country,” Trump said.

Despite the proposed involvement of American oil companies, Trump stressed that existing restrictions on Venezuelan crude exports remain unchanged.

Trump also said “the embargo on all Venezuelan oil remains in full effect.”

The development comes amid a weeks-long military pressure campaign by the United States against Venezuela ahead of the operation that led to Maduro’s capture.

As part of that campaign, U.S. forces seized at least two oil tankers which Washington said were subject to American sanctions.

Trump further issued a warning to other political and military figures in Venezuela, suggesting they could face similar consequences.

Trump also warned other political and military figures in Venezuela, saying that “what happened to Maduro can happen to them.”

Venezuela has been under United States oil sanctions since 2019, a move that significantly restricted its ability to trade crude oil legally on the global market.

The South American country currently produces about one million barrels of crude oil per day, selling most of it on the black market at heavily discounted prices.

Trump has repeatedly accused the Venezuelan government of using oil revenues to fund criminal activities.

Trump claims Caracas is using oil money to finance “drug terrorism, human trafficking, murder and kidnapping.”