The US needs to control Venezuela’s oil sales and revenue indefinitely to stabilise that country’s economy, rebuild its oil sector and ensure it acts in America’s interests, top US officials said on Wednesday.
The comments reflect the importance of crude oil to US President Donald Trump’s strategy in Venezuela after US forces abducted and deposed the country’s leader, Nicolas Maduro, in a raid on the capital Caracas on Saturday.
“We need to have that leverage and that control of those oil sales to drive the changes that simply must happen in Venezuela,” US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said at the Goldman Sachs Energy, CleanTech & Utilities Conference in Miami.
He said the revenues would be used to stabilise Venezuela’s economy and eventually to repay oil majors Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips for losses when their assets were nationalised by former president Hugo Chavez nearly two decades ago.
US Vice President JD Vance said that controlling Venezuela’s oil meant controlling the country.
“We control the energy resources, and we tell the regime: ‘You‘re allowed to sell the oil so long as you serve America‘s national interest; you‘re not allowed to sell it if you can‘t serve America‘s national interest,” he told Fox News.
“And that’s how we exert incredible pressure on that country without wasting a single American life, without endangering a single American citizen,” he said.
Democratic lawmakers criticised this approach, which Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy equated to stealing Venezuela’s oil at gunpoint, while industry analysts warned about political instability as the country treads a fine line between denouncing Maduro’s abduction and appeasing the US.
The OPEC member nation sits atop the world’s largest oil reserves but accounts for only about one per cent of global supply after decades of underinvestment eroded production.
Stored oil moving to market first
US Energy Secretary Wright said the US would market stored Venezuelan oil first and then sell ongoing future production indefinitely with revenues deposited into accounts controlled by the US government.
Such sales already have begun and the US has engaged “the world’s leading commodity marketers and key banks” to execute and provide financial support for them, according to a statement from the US Department of Energy.
Wright added he was speaking to US oil companies to learn what conditions would enable them to enter Venezuela to help boost the country’s production in the longer term.
“The resources are immense. This should be a wealthy, prosperous, peaceful energy powerhouse,” he said.
On Tuesday, Washington announced a deal with Caracas to initially export up to $2 billion worth of Venezuelan crude to the United States, a sign the government of interim Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez is responding to Trump’s demand that it open up to US oil companies or risk more military intervention.
Trump said on Wednesday in a post on Truth Social that Venezuela has agreed to use the proceeds from the sale of its oil to purchase American-made goods.
“A wise choice, and a very good thing for the people of Venezuela, and the United States,” he wrote.
