The NdB Sunday Show - Roland Tatnall: Oil reality check for Trump & SA’s fuel price future

In this first NdB Sunday Show of 2026, Chris Steyn hosts Energy Expert Roland Tatnall for an in-depth analysis of the strategic objectives of US President Donald Trump’s invasion of Venezuela and his oil grab there. Tatnall warns that “some of the ambitions” in the address given by Trump and his senior team were “not particularly realistic and…controlling and managing Venezuelan oil and developing that oil industry…is going to be a challenge and it's going to take time.” Tatnall further lays out the reasons why it would be “a challenge to convince shareholders that investing billions of dollars into Venezuelan heavy oil greenfield production would be a good investment at this moment”. As for the possible future impact on South Africa’s fuel price, he says: “Trump has repeatedly mentioned sort of a target to get to $50 a barrel, which would obviously improve pump prices further for South Africa. But that's really sort of biting off the hand that feeds him because much of the US onshore oil is not viable at that level.” Tatnall also looks at Electric Vehicle (EV) trends abroad, and outlines the challenges to EV uptake in South Africa.

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