President Trump says Venezuela is about to send a gusher of oil north—and he'll personally control the cash flow. In a Truth Social post Tuesday evening, Trump claimed interim authorities in the country will transfer 30 million to 50 million barrels of "High Quality, Sanctioned Oil" to the US, to be sold at market prices, CNBC reports.
- "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!" Trump wrote. "I have asked Energy Secretary Chris Wright to execute this plan, immediately. It will be taken by storage ships, and brought directly to unloading docks in the United States. "
The amount of oil Trump claims the US will receive is up to 15% of Venezuela's annual crude production, the Wall Street Journal reports. "That's a pretty good slug of oil if it goes in the market right away," says John Auers at consulting firm RBN Energy. He estimates that the value of the oil will be up to $2.5 billion. The move comes days after US forces seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in Caracas and flew them to New York, where they face US drug-trafficking conspiracy charges. Both pleaded not guilty Monday in federal court in Manhattan; Maduro told the judge he had been "kidnapped" and described himself as a "prisoner of war."
Trump plans to host executives from Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, and other producers at the White House on Friday to talk about major new investments in Venezuela's battered oil industry, the Journal reports. Trump has said US companies could pour billions into reviving the country's aging production network, and the US government might reimburse them. Chevron is currently the only major American oil firm still operating in Venezuela; assets belonging to ConocoPhillips and Exxon were seized under Hugo Chavez in the mid-2000s.
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