Venezuela can bolster oil production by 30% to 40% this year, an increase of roughly 300,000 to 400,000 barrels a day, according to US Energy Secretary Chris Wright.
There’s “enormous” interest among companies seeking to enter the Latin American country, Wright said in an interview in Paris, where’s attending the ministerial meeting of the International Energy Agency. Such a boost would equate to about a third of global oil demand growth this year, he added.
The Trump administration recently issued licenses allowing a handful of Western oil firms to operate in Venezuela. The US is trying to stimulate the nation’s oil industry and revive its economy following the capture of leader Nicolás Maduro earlier this year. The country’s oil production has fallen by about half since 2017, when Washington first imposed financial sanctions on the country.
ConocoPhillips has previously said it prefers to recoup the billions it’s owed by Venezuela rather than drilling new wells. Wright said that a range of “creative deals” could help resolve the situation, such as converting those debts into equity ownership.
Oil prices are trading near a six-month high in London amid concern that President Trump could attack OPEC member Iran to contain its nuclear program. Prices have also been buoyed by an array of supply disruptions, including the impact of US-led sanctions on Iran and Russia.
Wright said that Trump’s pursuit of “energy dominance” — including growing domestic production, and rebuilding alliances in the Middle East and beyond — has freed US foreign policy from some of the concerns over energy prices it has been constrained by in recent decades.
A short-lived “blip” in oil prices during last year’s 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran — in which the US attacked Iranian nuclear facilities — is a good illustration of the changed dynamic, he added.
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