The Real Story: How the New U.S.-Venezuela Oil Agreement Impacts Consumers

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- In a social media post, President Trump said Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth worked with the Interim President of Venezuela, Delcy Rodriguez, through a partnership with private business to get control of more than 65 billion barrels of oil reserves in Venezuela.

President Trump says it will help increase supply and lower gas prices. This comes as the national average for a gallon of gas is still above four dollars a gallon.

A white house official told CNN this will grant the U.S. 55 percent of the effective output of the joint venture.

Jaime Brito is the executive director of Dow Jones Energy. He says this process won't be instantaneous.

"From the 17 fields, it is estimated that around 30 percent of those fields are on mature basins, on existing fields that were already produced. And you need to go and apply enhanced recovery techniques and revamp, you know, the existing infrastructure," said Brito.

He says it may take a year to two years to start seeing the positive effects of this.

"In the next one to two years, what we'll see is some production coming from these Venezuelan fields. The majority, around 70 percent of the fields, will need around $50 billion of investment and between at least five to six, seven years to see significant volume being produced. So, the majority of this volume you won't see coming until maybe five years or four years at the most," said Brito.

He explained that some of the oil produced will go to the strategic reserve, but the rest will be exported around the globe, which could lead to potential savings at the pump. Overall, though, Brito says this makes the global oil industry more resilient.

Brito says the U.S. is at a refining advantage when it comes to processing the extra-heavy Venezuelan crude oil –which he says will also strengthen America’s position as the refiner and supplier of the world.