WASHINGTON, February 20. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump announced that 50 million barrels of oil were being transported from Venezuela to Houston, Texas in the United States.

"We have a great relationship with a country named Venezuela. <...> They got a lot of oil, we do too. But we’re helping them a lot. We took 50 million barrels of oil. It's right now floating very nicely in extremely large ships to Houston," Trump said on Thursday, addressing his supporters at a steel plant in the state of Georgia.

On January 3, Washington announced a military operation in Caracas, as a result of which US servicemen captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife. On January 5, the couple appeared before a federal court in the Southern District of New York. They are charged with involvement in drug trafficking. Neither Maduro nor his wife pleaded guilty. Delcy Rodriguez, who served as executive vice president under Maduro, is currently acting as head of state in Venezuela.

On January 6, the US leader said Venezuelan authorities would transfer between 30 million and 50 million barrels of oil to the United States for sale, with him personally overseeing the proceeds from the transaction. Trump later noted that Venezuela would use the funds generated from the new oil deal solely to purchase US-made products.