Energy boss Wright says U.S. will control Venezuelan oil flow ‘indefinitely’

Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Wednesday the U.S. government will direct the sale of Venezuelan oil for the foreseeable future to benefit the world and the South American country.

Mr. Wright said he’s working with the interim government in Caracas to sell stored oil, rebuild infrastructure and stabilize production.

“Indefinitely, going forward, we will sell the production that comes out of Venezuela into the marketplace,” he said at a Goldman Sachs energy conference in Miami. “If we control the flow of oil, the sales of [that] oil and the flow of the cash that comes from those sales, we have large leverage. But without large leverage, as we’ve seen in the last 25 years, you don’t get change.”

Mr. Wright described the state of Venezuelan oil infrastructure as “not good,” signaling a long project ahead.

The Trump administration is outlining its plans for Venezuela’s vast oil stores after the U.S. military seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday and flew him to New York to be tried on narco-terrorism charges.

President Trump accused Mr. Maduro of being an illegitimate leader who used multiple pathways to move drugs toward the U.S. 

Late Tuesday, Mr. Trump said the interim Venezuelan government will turn over 30 million to 50 million barrels of sanctioned oil to the U.S.

“This Oil will be sold at its Market Price, and that money will be controlled by me, as President of the United States of America, to ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States!” Mr. Trump wrote on social media, tasking Mr. Wright with carrying out the plan.

The oil, the president said, “will be taken by storage ships, and brought directly to unloading docks in the United States.”

His focus on oil will likely fuel skepticism about U.S. motives.

Some Venezuelans cheered the ouster of Mr. Maduro, who is viewed by many in the West as illegitimate, while others denounced American interference as an ugly throwback to an imperialist era in which outsiders cared more about their natural resources than their well-being.

The Trump administration says U.S. intervention will benefit Americans and Venezuelans.

“We want to change the game in Venezuela, fix the country so it’s a productive member of the Western Hemisphere, so it’s an ally of the United States and a major supplier of oil to the world,” Mr. Wright said. “But the old ways weren’t working.”