美能源部长：委内瑞拉产量已增25%，拟开发650亿桶储量

Secretary Wright, it's nice to see you here. On the heels of the US government announcing this massive partnership to potentially develop up to 65 billion barrels of oil just to get a lay of the land. How quickly can you start production on those 17 fields? And more broadly speaking, how quickly will we see Venezuelan production output really ramp up? It was several of those fields. Tyler already in active development today.

The bet produces around 200,000 barrels of oil a day. They're the second largest private producer in Venezuela. So there's scale already in several of those fields. A number of them haven't seen any meaningful development yet. Some of them were at Russian partnerships or Chinese partnerships or frankly, criminal partnerships. So this is to bring these fields into real commercial development. But the speed of things, I mean, so far we have gone at Trump speed in Venezuela.

Country production is up 25%. Exports are up 50%. We think even from production today already elevated, that could double by the end of this decade. 65 billion barrels is a massive number. It's my understanding that North American blue energy partners can't develop this all on their own. Are you actively working or in talks to bring in other operators for these 17 fields? Oh, I'm sure that will happen. But of course the deal was just signed on Friday, so this is brand new.

But yes, that reserve base is so large. Clearly additional partnerships will be formed to develop those resources when it comes to these specific fields. China. China is still owed billions of dollars from the Venezuelan government. Are there any assurances that the barrels from these fields aren't going to be used to pay back Chinese debt? Now, look, Venezuela has got a lot of historical debt, and one of the major efforts going on right now is to do with debt restructuring, to get things in order.

Who are the real creditors? What it is an arrangement going to go to move forward? But no, these these fields will be developed for the benefit of the Venezuelan people, for the benefit of Americans and for the benefit of global energy markets. President Trump's agenda is drive down energy prices of all kinds across our economy and across the world. But just for clarity. China won't have any claims of production or revenue related to this deal that the U.S. government struck.

No. No, they will not. Broadly speaking, people familiar with the matter had told Bloomberg News that Venezuela is considering actually leaving OPEC. Have you had any of those discussions with the Venezuelan government, including when it comes to talks around this deal? I have not discussed OPEC with the leaders of Venezuela. Do you think that they should leave? Uh, that's a dialogue for the sovereign state of Venezuela.

That's a decision for them to make. But I think part of this question is that wouldn't it be difficult for the US government to take all of this oil as part of the deal, if Venezuela is subject to OPEC quotas? I know at the moment they're not. But if we're talking about ramping up so much production in this country, wouldn't they be down the line? Again, that's that's a separate issue. But also to be clear, we're not taking any oil here.

This is a deal between a commercial enterprise that's operating in Venezuela today. We're just coming in as a partner, a passive partner in that role, but with very active controls to make sure the highest business practices are followed and to work with them to bring more capital so we can accelerate the development of these reserves. Venezuela today has about 17% of global oil reserves and just over 1% of global production.

That's the problem of the last 25 years, but it's the opportunity for tomorrow. Well, to this point, we've often heard from the administration about this three phased approach when it comes to Venezuela. That includes stability, economic viability and then a democratic transition. Can you just talk to me about how you are viewing this part of the picture, how this helps to get to Venezuela, to that process of economic viability before we could see duly elected officials in in this country in terms of a democratic process?

Absolutely. Stability is key. You can see in the streets behind us here in Caracas, we have peace and stability in Venezuela. We need to make sure it stays that way. But to get economic growth, you have to have an investment climate that American companies and companies from around the world will come invest in this country. A U.S. presence now, an economic ownership interest in Venezuela, I think, will help grow that confidence and bring even more capital.

But today, the deal signed with Chevron with E and I, the Italian multinational giant, and GE Ivanova, these are all many billions of dollars of investment to grow their businesses in Venezuela. We expect many more such deals to come. Is continued U.S. investment or participation in this oil agreement, conditional on any progress towards those Democratic talks. I know that talks are currently underway, though. The the economic deals are separate than the political thing, but they're all part of the same hole.

President Trump's sort of global agenda is to replace conflict with commerce all around the world. Um, and boy, I think we're off to an absolute swimming start in Venezuela. I'll tell you, the Venezuelan people are behind us. 25 years of communist corruption, poverty, 8 million people fleeing the country. Now we're going to show the prospect of economic growth, of new jobs, bring inflation down and bring our countries together and the growth in production in Venezuela.

Simply tremendous for America. Our refineries were built based on Venezuelan oil. Now is that crude production grows in quantity. That it's a win for Venezuela. It's a massive win for energy buyers in the United States. Whether you're buying, whether you're buying gasoline or diesel or flying out of vacation or heating your home, I think I know the answer to this. Just last question on this. Just to put a finer point on it.

Would the U.S. suspend any investment or oil purchases if the current political talks end up failing? These are ways to make sure the political talks go forward. Things are progressing quite well on the political front. We've had reconciliation meetings with the previous leader of the of the Venezuelan Assembly from 11 years ago is meeting with the current assembly leader. We've seen the release of over 100 political prisoners additional from the early releases.

The political talks are going well As well as the economic talks. Another question on how this deal is coming together in terms of helping to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Can you just take me through how that's going to work? Are we looking at swapping this crude to get it into the SPR? Yeah. As you grow production and lower the price of oil, that enables everything to be better. But absolutely, you know that the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, it's unlikely that we would put Venezuelan crude into our strategic petroleum reserve.

But it's the largest market in the world. Oil, as we did with the conflict in Iran right now. We swapped barrels in time. We released a barrel at the peak of this crisis for a promise at 1.25 barrels later in time. You can also swap grades of crude. We can swap Venezuelan crude for American light and made great crudes. So yeah, great flexibility there. A big part of the conversation about bolstering supplies in the Western Hemisphere has to do with the fact that we're seeing disruptions when it comes to the Middle East.

And your counterpart at Treasury Secretary, Scott Benson, said yesterday that he thinks that the Strait of Hormuz will be, quote, worthless in two years as oil finds these other bypass pipelines and routes. Do you agree with that assessment? Yeah. As infrastructure is built, you just get more and more ways for those barrels to reach the marketplace. Iran has played thi