Working well with Venezuela: US President Trump cancels second attack
US President set to outline plan for Venezuelan oil
 "Working well with Venezuela: US President Trump cancels second attack")
US President Donald Trump said a second wave of attacks on Venezuela had been cancelled, citing improved cooperation from the country.
Venezuela is “working well” with the US on rebuilding its oil and gas infrastructure and releasing “large numbers” of political prisoners, Trump wrote in a social-media post on Truth Social on Friday. That means another wave of strikes doesn’t appear necessary, he said.
Brent futures pared gains on the president’s statement, trading at $62.16 as of 10:15 a.m. in London. Trump is meeting with US oil executives later as his administration pushes them to rebuild Venezuela’s energy sector.
The military activity in the region may not be over, though. Trump said Thursday strikes were being prepared against drug cartel facilities, just days after he ordered an operation to capture Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro.
“We are going to start now hitting the land with regard to the cartels,” Trump said Thursday in an interview with Fox News.
The US has struck more than a dozen boats the administration claims were trafficking drugs, with combating narcoterrorism a partial justification for the Maduro operation. Since then, he has indicated that while the US would consider using the military to secure the cooperation of the interim government in Caracas, that he was hopeful he would not need to order additional military action. Still, he has for months signalled a willingness to target drug-manufacturing facilities in other countries, including Colombia and Mexico.
Trump’s remarks Thursday come despite the president sending optimistic signals following a phone call with Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Wednesday. After their conversation, Trump posted on social media that he appreciated Petro’s “call and tone.” Petro, in his own post, said it was more convenient to start a dialogue “than to settle it on battlefields.” The leaders have agreed to meet in Washington.
Venezuelan oil being held at sea swells after US intervention
The volume of Venezuelan crude floating at sea has spiked to the highest level in more than three years after the US seized the country’s leader, Nicolas Maduro, and asserted control over its energy resources.
More than 29 million barrels of Venezuelan oil are now on vessels stationary at sea, up from about 20 million barrels earlier this week, according to data from Kpler. Most of the increase has been seen in waters in Asia, where China has long been the largest importer of the South American nation’s output.
“Chinese teapots are already bracing for the possibility that the barrels now in transit will be their last,” said Muyu Xu, a senior crude analyst at Kpler, referring to independent Chinese processors.