United States Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Monday that since the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, at least 150 million barrels of Venezuelan oil have been sold.
“Rounded up, probably 150 million barrels of Venezuelan oil have been sold, maybe a little more, but something like that, since January 3rd,” declared Wright during an intervention at the Semafor World Economy forum, held in Washington.
The official estimated the Latin American country’s current production at more than 1.2 million barrels of crude per day, which represents, as he explained, an increase compared to “just under” one million barrels per day before Maduro’s capture in January.
Wright stressed that one of the objectives of the Government of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, is to attract North American oil companies to Caracas again, and pointed out that there are five US oil companies in Venezuela, from offshore producers — companies that explore, develop and extract oil and gas on the seabed — to conventional and unconventional producers on land.
On the other hand, the head of the Energy portfolio considered it “a very ambitious deadline” to wait for oil prices to fall this summer, predicting, in this sense, “high and perhaps even rising” energy prices until “significant maritime traffic” is achieved through the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
“Once the conflict is over and when the energy starts flowing again, pressure will begin to drop, although it will take some time”, said Wright, stressing that “the longer the conflict goes on, the longer the recovery will take”.
Maduro was captured as part of an operation carried out in early January by the US Army, in compliance with an arrest warrant from the US Department of Justice, which accuses the former Venezuelan President of narcoterrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine and possession of weapons.
Last January, the interim president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, announced a long-term “productive association” with the United States, after Washington lifted sanctions on Caracas to allow North American companies to operate in the Venezuelan oil market, as part of a process started on January 7th that authorizes the sale and transportation of crude oil throughout the world.
This opened the way for the state-owned company Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) to sign new supply contracts with companies that sell oil and derivatives, destined for the North American market.
The President of the United States himself described the work carried out by Rodríguez in exploring oil resources as “really good”, highlighting that “millions, literally millions of barrels of oil” are being extracted.
Leave a Reply