The United States begins to make profitable the military operation in Venezuela to overthrow the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro. When the bombs dropped on Caracas were still smoking, US President Donald Trump admitted at a midday Saturday press conference that he wants control of Venezuela’s rusting crude oil industry. “The largest in the world, they will invest billions of dollars to repair the oil infrastructure, which is in very poor condition, and begin to generate income for the country,” stressed the American leader. Since then he has given clues about how much he is interested in exploiting the phenomenal crude oil field in Venezuela, the country with the largest oil reserves in the world. This Tuesday he announced that Venezuela will increase oil sales to the United States.
Through Truth Social, the social network created by the Republican to express his opinions, he assured this Tuesday: “I am pleased to announce that the Provisional Authorities of Venezuela will deliver between 30 and 50 MILLION barrels of high-quality and authorized oil to the United States.”
Taking into account that amount it represents around the production of one or two months, about 30 or 50 days. And considering the current prices of West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the US benchmark crude oil, the volume could reach a value of more than $2.8 billion, according to the Bloomberg agency.
The United States had imposed sanctions on the Chavista regime for the sale of oil. The Venezuelan oil industry barely produced one million barrels a day, a third of what it produced in the 1970s, when it pumped 8% of all world supply, and far from the 13 that the United States pumps or the 10 that Saudi Arabia extracts from its fields. Most of Venezuela’s crude oil production, around two-thirds, is placed in China through intermediary vessels to avoid sanctions. And a quarter is sold to the United States through the oil company Chevron, which has been doing business in the Caribbean country for almost a century. The rest is placed in Russia, Cuba and other countries in its orbit.
The Venezuelan oil industry does not have the capacity to substantially increase production immediately, so it is assumed that it will reduce its sales to Chinese customers to increase it to American recipients.
“This oil will be sold at its market price, and I, as President of the United States, will control that money to guarantee that it is used for the benefit of the Venezuelan people and the United States,” Trump added through the social network.
The American oil company Chevron is already increasing its activity in the Caribbean country. It has sent at least eleven tankers to Venezuela. They are expected to dock near ports controlled by the new Chavista regime, which has shown itself willing to collaborate with the United States.
“I have asked the Secretary of Energy, Chris Wright, to execute this plan immediately. It will be transported in storage ships directly to unloading docks in the United States,” Trump said.
The announcement comes at the same time that it has been learned that Trump is preparing a meeting next week with the main energy officials in the White House to define a strategy to help convince Western companies to invest in the Venezuelan industry, according to Bloomberg. The Secretary of Energy, Chris Wright, is expected to participate in the meeting; the Secretary of the Interior, Doug Burgum, among other energy experts from the Administration.
