US energy secretary Chris Wright said on Wednesday that the United States intended to maintain significant control over Venezuela’s oil industry, including by overseeing the sale of the country’s production “indefinitely.”
“Going forward we will sell the production that comes out of Venezuela into the marketplace,” Mr Wright said at a Goldman Sachs energy conference near Miami.
Mr Wright’s remarks came after US president Donald Trump said late on Tuesday that Venezuela would soon hand over tens of millions of barrels of oil to the United States.
Venezuela would send 30 million to 50 million barrels of oil, or up to two months’ worth of daily production, to the United States, Mr Trump said in a social media post, adding that he would control the profits from those sales.
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It was not immediately clear what legal authority the Trump administration would operate under. As of Wednesday morning, leaders in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, had not commented publicly on the US government’s plans.
Mr Wright said the Trump administration was in “active dialogue” with Venezuela’s leadership as well as US oil giants that have operated in the country.
Executives from some of the largest western oil producers are expecting to meet Mr Trump at the White House on Friday afternoon, according to people familiar with the plans.
Mr Wright echoed outside estimates forecasting that Venezuela could potentially boost oil production by several hundred thousand barrels per day relatively quickly.
But more substantial increases above current output levels of around one million barrels per day would take much longer, even if international oil companies were ready to invest more money in the country.
“To get back to the historical production numbers, that takes tens of billions of dollars and significant time,” Mr Wright said. “But why not?”
Mr Trump posted on Truth Social that the oil “will be taken by storage ships, and brought directly to unloading docks in the United States”.
He said he would control profits from the sale of the oil “to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States”.
The announcement came after officials in Caracas announced at least 24 Venezuelan security officers were killed in the US military operation to capture Nicolás Maduro and bring him to the United States to face drug charges.
Earlier on Tuesday, Venezuelan officials announced the death count in the Maduro raid as the country’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, pushed back on Mr Trump, who earlier this week warned she would face an outcome worse than Maduro’s if she does not “do what’s right” and overhaul Venezuela into a country that aligns with US interests.
Mr Trump has said his administration will now “run” Venezuela policy and is pressing the country’s leaders to open its vast oil reserves to American energy companies.
The AP news agency reported that Ms Rodriguez, delivering an address on Tuesday before government agricultural and industrial sector officials, said: “Personally, to those who threaten me: My destiny is not determined by them, but by god.”
Venezuela’s attorney general Tarek William Saab said “dozens” of officers and civilians were killed in the weekend strike in Caracas and said prosecutors would investigate the deaths in what he described as a “war crime”.
He did not specify if the estimate was specifically referring to Venezuelans.
In addition to the Venezuelan security officials, Cuba’s government had previously confirmed 32 Cuban military and police officers working in Venezuela were killed in the raid. The Cuban government says the personnel killed belonged to the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior, the country’s two main security agencies.
Seven US service members were also injured in the raid, according to the Pentagon. Five have already returned to duty, while two are still recovering from their injuries. – This article originally appeared in The New York Times
