Price of Venezuelan oil for the USA, when sold as a nation or as the 51st State.

"If Venezuela was the 51st State of US, would the other 50 states, or the Federal Government, be able to buy its oil cheaper, than what they would have to pay it if it was still and independent nation?"

Google AI: "No, making Venezuela the 51st state would not automatically mean the federal government or other U.S. states could buy its oil cheaper than they could from an independent nation."

Why Statehood Wouldn't Make Oil "Cheaper"

The U.S. Oil Market is Private: The United States does not have a state-run or nationalized oil industry. Oil in the U.S. is owned and extracted by private corporations (like ExxonMobil, Chevron, or independent operators). Even if Venezuela were a U.S. state, private companies would still own, pump, and sell the oil at global market prices, rather than handing it over cheaply to the government or other states.

Constitutional Equal Footing Doctrine: Under the U.S. Constitution's Equal Footing Doctrine, any new state admitted to the Union enters on equal footing with the existing 50 states. The federal government cannot legally seize, nationalize, or force a state's natural resources (like Texas's oil or Alaska's oil) to be sold at a discount exclusively to Washington D.C. or sister states. Venezuelan oil would still be bought and sold according to global supply, demand, and corporate profit motives.

Heavy, Sour Crude Refinement Costs: The vast majority of Venezuela’s oil is heavy, sour crude. It requires specialized, expensive refinery infrastructure (largely concentrated along the U.S. Gulf Coast) to process into gasoline and diesel. Changing its political status to a state does not fix the physical quality of the crude or bypass the massive capital investments needed to process it. 

Current Bilateral Arrangements vs. Statehood: Under current arrangements (such as U.S.–Venezuela agreements involving private joint ventures like North American Blue Energy Partners), specific off-take or discount structures have been negotiated through sovereign or contractual concessions rather than statehood. Statehood would actually dismantle special extra-constitutional or preferential off-take deals, replacing them with standard U.S. interstate commerce, federal tax laws, and constitutional property rights.