Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the United States plans to sell Venezuelan oil in the market “indefinitely,” while controlling the proceeds and directing the revenue back to Venezuela.
“Instead of the oil being blockaded, as it is right now, we’re gonna let the oil flow … to United States refineries and around the world to bring better oil supplies, but have those sales done by the U.S. government,” Wright said Wednesday at Goldman Sachs’ Energy, CleanTech & Utilities Conference.
He said that proceeds from those sales would be deposited into U.S. government-controlled accounts, flowing back to the country to “benefit the Venezuelan people.”
“We need to have that leverage and that control of those oil sales to drive the changes that simply must happen in Venezuela,” he said.
The energy secretary’s comments come shortly after the U.S. seized sanctioned oil tankers on Wednesday morning, which it has been pursuing since last month.
Venezuela’s oil reserves played a significant role in President Donald Trump’s decision to capture former dictator Nicolas Maduro over the weekend. Trump has noted that he would now seek to revitalize the oil industry in Venezuela. Wright’s comments are the most detailed from the administration on how the U.S. plans to approach the oil industry in Venezuela.
Previously, the administration had only hinted at plans for oil that Venezuela has already pumped and placed in storage or in transit. Trump had said on Truth Social on Tuesday that Venezuela will be turning over “30 and 50 million” barrels of sanctioned oil to the U.S. that it would then sell. That oil is estimated to be worth up to $2.5 billion.
Wright said he is working directly with the Venezuelans. “We’re going to market the crude coming out of Venezuela, first this backed up, stored oil, and then indefinitely, going forward, we will sell the production that comes out of Venezuela into the marketplace,” he said.
Over the long term, he said, the administration hopes to create conditions in Venezuela that will lead U.S. oil companies to invest in the country, noting that Venezuela’s resources are “immense.”
Asked for further detail, a White House spokesperson said that “this was a deal made with the Venezuelan interim authorities that benefits both the American people and the Venezuelan people. Secretary Wright and the Energy Department are working with the interim authorities and private oil industry to execute this historic energy deal that will restore prosperity, safety, and security in the United States and Venezuela.”
During an interview with NBC News on Tuesday, Trump said that the U.S. oil industry could expand its operations in less than 18 months, but it would cost “a lot of money.”
“A tremendous amount of money will have to be spent, and the oil companies will spend it, and then they’ll get reimbursed by us or through revenue,” Trump said.
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Still, Trump faces an uphill battle, as the oil industry in Venezuela has seen a decline in production over the last few decades.