Energy Secretary Chris Wright is set to travel to Venezuela in the coming weeks, becoming the highest-ranking official from the Trump administration to visit the country since the capture of former dictator Nicolas Maduro.
His visit underscores the Trump administration’s direct involvement in rebuilding the Venezuelan oil industry, as Wright plans to meet with government officials and leadership at the state-owned oil and gas company PDVSA on professionalizing and enhancing operations.
Wright first confirmed that he would be traveling to the South American country last Friday, telling reporters during a press conference at the Department of Energy’s headquarters he would be going “before too long.”
“I will meet with all the leadership in the country there, and get a better understanding of on-the-ground oil and gas production operations,” Wright said.
He further detailed his priorities for the visit during an interview on the Politico Energy podcast, saying he hopes to travel to some oil fields and see on-site operations.
“Really just to make direct human connections, get direct visibility and access into what’s happening on the ground,” Wright said.
Wright confirmed that his visit will make him the first senior representative of the U.S. government to travel to Venezuela since early January.
Following the capture of Maduro, President Donald Trump outlined a plan for the United States to take control of the production and sale of heavy Venezuelan crude “indefinitely.”
Venezuela is estimated to have the largest oil reserves in the world, at around 300 billion barrels. The country extracts fewer than 1 million barrels of oil per day, however, less than one-tenth of the world’s top producers.
The Trump administration aims to increase these production levels rapidly, potentially by 50% within the next 12 to 18 months.
For decades, Venezuela’s crude industry has been dominated by the state-owned company PDVSA. In recent years, the oil firm has been criticized over mismanagement, corruption, and internal structural failures.
“PDVSA was a highly professional, technically competent oil and gas company 30 years ago, and it hasn’t been one for quite some time,” Wright told Politico Energy.
When pressed on whether the Trump administration was pressuring the Venezuelan government to change PDVSA’s leadership, the energy secretary said it would be a “subject of dialogue” during his visit.
“That’s in America’s best interest, that’s in Venezuela’s best interest to have professional, competent management of PDVSA,” Wright said. “We’re early on in this situation, but certainly enhancing and professionalizing, improving the quality of PDVSA is absolutely on the agenda.”
He did not offer any suggestions on who could be a competent leader of the oil firm and improve the flow of Venezuelan oil into the global markets, telling the outlet that PDVSA is a Venezuelan company.
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Wright noted that he plans to speak with PDVSA and government officials, including acting President Delcy Rodriguez, on this issue.
“I think done right, this is incentives aligned here, incentives aligned,” Wright said.
