When Lula meets Donald Trump in Washington in March, the headline ask will be unusual for a left-wing Latin American leader: permission to send Brazil’s state oil company into a country the US effectively controls. According to CNN Brasil, Lula wants clearance for Petrobras to resume exploration and production in Venezuela.

The geopolitical backdrop makes the request possible. Since US forces captured Nicolás Maduro in early January, Venezuela has undergone a dramatic shift. Acting president Delcy Rodríguez signed a new oil law ending PDVSA’s state monopoly, capping royalties at 30% and requiring international arbitration for disputes — precisely the guarantees that foreign companies demanded for decades.

Why Brazil sees an opening

Washington has moved fast to reshape Venezuela’s energy sector. The US has drafted a $100 billion reconstruction plan, issued licenses for oil equipment and exploration, and brokered a $2 billion supply deal with the Rodríguez government. Production currently sits at roughly one million barrels per day, and the US Energy Information Administration expects a 20% increase in coming months.

Petrobras operated in Venezuela before the economic collapse and has expertise in the heavy crude found in the Orinoco Belt. One option being studied is swapping old Venezuelan debts owed to Brazil’s development bank for oil assets. But insiders at Petrobras remain cautious — any investment would take years to pay off, and nobody can guarantee stability beyond Trump’s remaining three years.

The meeting will also cover Cuba. US tariffs on countries supplying oil to the island have choked fuel imports since January, worsening an already severe crisis. Brazil is preparing to ship food and medicine, and Lula plans to warn Trump about the humanitarian risks of a full collapse so close to American shores.

The broader signal is strategic. Lula is positioning Brazil not as Maduro’s old ally but as a pragmatic energy partner willing to invest where Washington wants capital to flow. Whether Trump sees Petrobras as a collaborator or a competitor will shape the energy politics of Latin America’s post-Maduro era. This is part of The Rio Times’ daily coverage of Brazil politics and Latin American financial news.

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