The Trump administration plans to control future sales of Venezuelan oil and hold the proceeds in US accounts, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said, making the clearest statement yet on Washington’s strategy to bring the impoverished nation’s crude to market and manage its most valuable resource.
Wright, who spoke at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. conference in Miami Wednesday, said initially the barrels would come from crude Venezuela is holding in storage, which has been filling up amid the US blockade and threatening to force some production off line.
“We’re just going to get that crude moving again and sell it,” Wright said. “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.”
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The plan comes as the Trump administration is pushing for US energy companies to rebuild Venezuela’s decaying oil infrastructure and revive its flagging production. The US is also selectively rolling back sanctions on Venezuela’s oil sector as part of the effort, the Energy Department said.
President Donald Trump said Tuesday evening that Venezuela would relinquish as much as 50 million barrels of its oil for the US to sell, valued at about $2.8 billion at current market prices.
The US has already begun marketing Venezuelan crude, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a briefing Wednesday.
Revenue from the sales will be held in US Treasury accounts, a move that would protect the proceeds from Venezuela’s creditors, a person familiar with the matter said. The funds will benefit the American and Venezuelan people, Leavitt said.
“All proceeds from the sale of Venezuelan crude oil and products will first settle in US-controlled accounts at globally recognized banks to guarantee the legitimacy and integrity of the ultimate distribution of proceeds,” Leavitt said. “Those funds will be dispersed for the benefit of the American people and the Venezuelan people at the discretion of the United States.”
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Earlier, US forces seized two more sanctioned oil tankers, including one flying a Russian flag, as the Trump administration pushes to control all exports of Venezuelan crude. One was seized in the Atlantic Ocean south of Iceland, and the other was apprehended in the Caribbean region.
Trump is pushing for US oil companies such as Chevron Corp., ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil Corp. to rebuild Venezuela’s infrastructure and revive production now that the US has removed former President Nicolás Maduro. The administration has already had conversations with multiple oil companies, according to an official. The president is set to meet with energy executives on Friday, Leavitt said.
“It’s just a meeting to discuss, obviously, the immense opportunity that is before these oil companies right now,” she said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio also may attend the sit-down that’s being planned, according to people familiar with the matter.
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Venezuela’s oil sector has suffered from years of corruption, underinvestment and neglect, and its production is less than 1 million barrels a day. Wright estimated that output could be increased by several hundred thousand barrels a day in the short to medium term.
Restoring the industry to its former glories would be a huge undertaking, costing an estimated $10 billion per year over the next decade, according to estimates from Francisco Monaldi, director of Latin American energy policy at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.
US oil companies have so far said little publicly about their willingness to take on such an endeavor.
Venezuela sits atop some of the world’s largest crude reserves, but companies will want to ensure there’s a stable government in place before making any long-term investments. They will also want some degree of confidence Washington will support their presence in Venezuela even after Trump is no longer in office.
Chevron is the only US major operating in Venezuela, working under a special license from Washington. Exxon and ConocoPhillips previously operated inside the country but left after their assets were nationalized by Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chávez, in the mid-2000s.
Global oil futures slipped 1.3% Wednesday, trading at around $60 a barrel.