U.S. will sell blockaded Venezuelan production ‘indefinitely,’ says Energy Secretary Chris Wright
Meridith McGraw, Benoît Morenne, Annie Linskey
The U.S. will sell blockaded Venezuelan oil “indefinitely,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Wednesday, a day after President Trump said Venezuela will give the U.S. between 30 million and 50 million barrels of sanctioned oil.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said that he has directed Wright to carry out his plan for the oil to be taken by storage ships and transported to the U.S.
“This Oil will be sold at its Market Price, and that money will be controlled by me, as President of the United States of America, to ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States!,” said Trump.
Trump’s post offered the most detail to date about how he intends to make good on his promise to extract oil from the country.
Wright said Wednesday that he was working with the Venezuelan government and that the U.S. would receive Venezuelan oil that is backed up in onshore facilities and floating tankers and then sell it. Many of those barrels were likely bound for China or Russia, say analysts, but have been blocked from the market by a U.S. blockade of sanctioned Venezuelan oil tankers.
“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,” Wright said at a Goldman Sachs conference in Miami.
Venezuela’s Ministry of Information didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Futures for Brent and WTI crude—the international and U.S. oil-price benchmarks, respectively—dropped roughly 1% Wednesday morning.
After the U.S. captured strongman Nicolás Maduro, Trump announced the U.S. would take control of Venezuela’s oil reserves and bring American oil companies into the country to rebuild its oil industry and infrastructure. “What we want to do is fix up the oil, fix up the country, bring the country back, and then have elections,” Trump told reporters earlier this week.
Wright said Wednesday that the U.S. would import parts, equipment and services to Venezuela to increase the flow of oil there.
“And of course, in the long run, [we will] create the conditions that the major American companies that were there before, maybe that weren’t there before, but want to be there, will go in. The resources are immense,” he said.
On Friday, the president is expected to meet with representatives from the three largest U.S. oil companies—Chevron, ConocoPhillips, and Exxon Mobil—as well as other domestic producers at the White House to discuss investments in Venezuela.
Oil prices barely budged after the U.S. ousted Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro and President Trump pledged billions to revive the country’s oil infrastructure. WSJ’s David Uberti breaks down the market reaction. Photo: Matias Delacroix/Associated Press
The announced influx of barrels would be good news for Gulf Coast refineries that are configured to run heavy crude including from Venezuela—and by extension for U.S. consumers of diesel and gasoline and other refined products, analysts said. The plants in recent years have been looking for new sources of heavy crude.
“That’s a pretty good slug of oil if it goes in the market right away,” said John Auers, managing director of refining analytics at consulting firm RBN Energy.
The value of the barrels would be between $1.5 billion and $2.5 billion based on Tuesday’s benchmark for heavy crude used on the Gulf Coast, Auers said.
The amount of oil Trump says Venezuela will give the U.S. is significant—up to 15% of all the crude Venezuela produces in a year. It would take as many as 25 of the largest oil tankers in the world to transport the oil.
Trump said the oil will be taken via ship to docks in the U.S.
The latest plan comes as Trump threatened the country’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, to cooperate or face consequences. “If she doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro,” Trump said on Sunday.
Write to Meridith McGraw at Meridith.McGraw@wsj.com, Benoît Morenne at benoit.morenne@wsj.com and Annie Linskey at annie.linskey@wsj.com
