The United States Secretary of Energy, Chris Wright, said on Monday that at least 150 million barrels of Venezuelan oil have been sold since the capture of Nicolás Maduro.
“Roughly speaking, around 150 million barrels of Venezuelan oil have probably been sold — maybe a bit more, but something like that — since January 3,” Wright said during a speech at the Semafor World Economy forum in Washington, D.C..
He estimated the country’s current oil production at over 1.2 million barrels per day, representing an increase compared to the “just under” one million barrels per day produced before Maduro’s capture in January.
Wright stressed that one of the objectives of the administration of Donald Trump is to bring American oil companies back to Caracas. He noted that five U.S. oil firms are already operating in the country, ranging from offshore producers — companies that explore and extract oil and gas at sea — to conventional and unconventional onshore producers.
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At the same time, the Energy Secretary described expectations of falling oil prices this summer as “very ambitious,” predicting that energy prices will remain “high and possibly rising” until significant maritime traffic resumes through the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
“Once the conflict ends and energy begins to flow again, downward pressure will start to emerge, although it will take time,” Wright said, adding that “the longer the conflict lasts, the slower the recovery.”
Maduro was captured in early January in a U.S. military operation carried out under a warrant issued by the Department of Justice, which accuses the former Venezuelan leader of narco-terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, and weapons offenses.
Following his capture, Venezuela’s interim leadership announced a long-term “productive partnership” with the United States, after Washington lifted sanctions to allow American companies to operate in the country’s oil sector and export crude globally.
This opened the way for the state-owned PDVSA to sign new supply contracts with international trading firms targeting the U.S. market.
