The Trump administration said Wednesday it will control Venezuela’s oil sales “indefinitely” in the wake of deposed strongman ruler Nicolás Maduro’s capture.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright asserted the US will market and sell Venezuelan crude, with proceeds held in US-controlled accounts that he said “can flow back” to Venezuela, a day after President Trump said Venezuela would turn tens of millions of barrels of oil over to the US.
“Instead of the oil being blockaded, as it is right now, we’re gonna let the oil flow … to United States refineries and around the world to bring better oil supplies, but have those sales done by the US government,” Wright said at Goldman Sachs’ Energy, CleanTech & Utilities Conference in Aventura, Fla., on Wednesday.
The US will first move to sell millions of barrels of Venezuelan crude currently stuck in storage because of US sanctions and a blockade, and then take over the sale of ongoing production for the foreseeable future, according to the energy secretary.