• US needs to control Venezuela oil sales, says Energy Sec Wright.  
• Controlling Venezuela’s oil meant controlling country: US VP Vance. 
• Democrats slam Trump admin strategy as akin to stealing oil.

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 President Donald Trump’s strategy in Venezuela after US forces ousted 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 the Fox News “Jesse Watters Primetime” programme.

“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 capture and appeasing the US.

The OPEC member nation sits atop the world’s largest oil reserves but accounts for only about 1% of global supply after decades of underinvestment eroded production.

Stored oil moving to market first

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 have already 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.

Venezuela’s state-run oil company PDVSA said it was progressing in negotiations with the United States for oil sales. PDVSA board member Wills Rangel told Reuters the US will need to buy cargoes at fair market prices.

Shares of US refiners Marathon Petroleum, Phillips 66 and Valero Energy were up between 2.5% and 5%.

White House meetings

Trump is scheduled to meet with the heads of major oil companies at the White House on Friday to discuss ways of raising Venezuela’s oil production.

Representatives from Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips and Chevron – the top three US oil companies – would be present, according to a source familiar with the planning.

Chevron Vice Chairman Mark Nelson will represent the company at the meeting, another source said.

The companies, all of which have experience in Venezuela, have declined to comment.

Wright said in an interview with CNBC on Wednesday afternoon that he spoke with the chief executives of all three companies immediately after Maduro was seized, and expected them to be engaged in rehabilitating Venezuela’s oil sector.

“Are they going to put billions of dollars into building new infrastructure in Venezuela next week? Of course not,” he said. “But they want to be productive advisers and helpers in that process.”

Wright also told CNBC that some of the proceeds from Venezuelan oil sales could eventually be used to repay ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil for losses when they exited the country, but only after Venezuela’s economy is stabilised.

Chevron is the only US oil major still operating in Venezuela’s oil fields.

Venezuela was producing as much as 3.5 million barrels per day in the 1970s. But mismanagement and limited foreign investment have since led to a sharp drop in annual production, which averaged about 1.1 million bpd last year.

Wright said he believed Venezuelan production could be increased within a short period with an infusion of equipment and technology, but that a broader recovery to past production levels would take years.