Bloomberg reported, citing sources, that the negotiations aim to secure long-term mining rights in Venezuela to expand U.S. oil supply channels. This move is in response to the war in Iran and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, and also to replenish the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which has fallen to its lowest level in over 40 years. This ultra-long-term lease arrangement has almost no precedent in the history of global energy development.