What's behind the 'biggest oil deal in world history' Trump is touting with Venezuela?

Details are emerging about what United States President Donald Trump is calling "the biggest oil deal in world history" with Venezuela.

Trump said the agreement announced on Saturday would give the US a stake in Venezuela's vast oil reserves, a step toward his goal of extracting energy from the country after US forces captured then-president Nicolás Maduro in a middle-of-the-night raid in January and brought him to New York to face federal drug trafficking charges.

Venezuela's acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, described the deal as a step toward economic recovery that will modernise the country’s oil industry.

In a televised address to the nation on Sunday, Rodríguez insisted Venezuela's sovereignty is secure and said she wants the country to become a global energy powerhouse.

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On Tuesday, the White House released a fact sheet about the arrangement.

Here's a look at what's known about the deal — and what remains unclear.

The US government and a private operator in Venezuela have formed a new company that has been granted rights to access untapped oil fields for 100 years.

A statement from Rodríguez said the deal involves the development of 17 fields with a proven potential of 65 billion barrels.

It said the agreement could draw US$100 billion ($139 billion) in investment into Venezuela's oil industry and yield over US$209 billion ($291 billion) in taxes for the country.

The private operator is North America Blue Energy Partners, owned by Alejandro Betancourt, the White House confirmed on Tuesday.

The company currently produces about 200,000 barrels a day, which makes it the second-largest private operator in Venezuela behind Chevron, according to a source who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to release the information.

Trump said the agreement was negotiated by US secretary of state Marco Rubio, defence secretary Pete Hegseth and Rodríguez.

The deal will give the US a 35 per cent ownership stake in the company, and the US state department will get a guarantee to buy 20 per cent of the output at cost. US purchases of oil will go towards US strategic oil reserves along with the military, according to a US official who was not authorised to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.