President Trump said Tuesday in his State of the Union speech that the U.S. has received more than 80 million barrels of oil from Venezuela, a significant uptick from the first few weeks after the U.S. captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro at the beginning of January.
“American oil production is up by more than 600,000 barrels a day and we just received them from our new friend and partner, Venezuela, more than 80 million barrels of oil,” Mr. Trump said.
“American natural gas production is at an all-time high because I kept my promise to drill, baby, drill,” Mr. Trump added, referring to his pledge to increase America’s domestic production.
Last month, just weeks after Mr. Maduro was captured by U.S. forces, Mr. Trump told a group of oil executives that Venezuela had sent 30 million barrels of oil to the U.S. He said that was the equivalent of one month’s production.
At the time, Mr. Trump estimated that 30 million barrels was the equivalent of $4 billion worth of oil.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright met with Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, last week. Venezuela is home to the world’s largest oil reserves.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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