Trump's Energy Boss Discusses US Control Of Venezuelan Oil Sales, Failed Green Energy, And Nuclear Power
Update (Wednesday):
Following President Trump's overnight Truth Social post that Venezuela would transfer "30 to 50 million barrels of high-quality, sanctioned oil" to the U.S., Energy Secretary Chris Wright outlined next steps for both the oil and the sales proceeds during remarks at a Goldman Sachs conference.
Earlier, Wright was featured at the Goldman Energy, Clean Tech & Utilities Conference in Miami. He told the audience, including executives from Chevron, ConocoPhillips, and other major oil and gas majors, about the Trump administration's plans for Venezuela's oil sector following last weekend's regime change led by America's Delta Force operators (implying the toppling of Nicolás Maduro).
Wright opened the discussion by describing the "horrific" two-decade decline of Venezuela under the Maduro socialist regime. He said the country was once "one of the shining stars" of South America but, under socialist rule, descended into a hellhole of narcoterrorism.
"We want to change the game in Venezuela, fix the country so it's a productive member of the Western Hemisphere. So it's an ally of the United States and a major oil supplier to the world. But the old ways weren't working. This started with an oil blockade. They [Maduro's socialist regime] get money two ways: selling oil and selling drugs," Wright explained.
He continued, "We ultimately want to be cut off completely from drugs and grow the selling of oil. But in the short term, there was a blockade - a major cash flow source - that pinched the heads of Venezuela to get them out of power."
Wright went on to describe Venezuela's oil market in a post-Maduro world: "Now we have a different arrangement. Instead of the oil being blockaded, as it is right now, we're going to let the oil flow. Sell that oil to U.S. refineries and to markets around the world to improve global oil supplies. But those sales will be conducted by the U.S. government, with the proceeds deposited into accounts controlled by the U.S. government. From there, the funds can flow back into Venezuela to benefit the Venezuelan people."
"We need to use the leverage from those oil sales to drive the change that simply must happen in Venezuela, so it is no longer a drug threat, a kidnapping threat, a gun-running threat, or an enabler of our adversaries in the hemisphere. Venezuela has been a train wreck for the U.S. and the American people, and under Trump's leadership, we are committed to changing and restoring it in a way that benefits not only Americans, but Venezuelans as well," he said.
On the subject of Venezuelan energy infrastructure, Wright emphasized that it is "not good." He said, "Decades of underinvestment and corruption have degraded infrastructure, and it's not just oil and gas; it's also the power grid."
Switching gears, Wright called climate change spending probably one of the biggest malinvestments in human history. He said approximately $10 trillion has been invested globally "fighting climate change," and asked what the return has been: "For $10 trillion, we got solar up to 1.2% of global energy and wind at 1.4%. Collectively, that's just 2.6% of global energy."
Wright added that where grid penetration of green energy is high, power prices have skyrocketed, citing Germany, the UK, and California as examples, resulting in deindustrialization.
About halfway through the conversation, Wright discussed the surge in power demand driven by data center buildouts and other electrification trends across the U.S.
"My biggest concern is the electricity grid," Wright noted. He described climate-crisis policies as a "delusion," saying the grid went from producing cheaper and cheaper power to now producing increasingly more expensive power.
Wright blasted blue states for their terrible 'green' energy policies, saying this has been one of the driving forces behind the power bill crisis.
He said, "Demand growth of the power grid is one way to drive down power prices." In other words, build more power plants.
On the nuclear power front, Wright said the nuclear power industry was "destroyed" by climate change policies and "regulatory misunderstandings"...
"If we want to reshore manufacturing and win the AI race, we have to add 100 gigawatts of reliable capacity that is there at peak demand," Wright said near the end of his conversation at the Goldman conference.
Very informative talk from Wright.
We suggest readers listen in full.
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Update (2035ET):
Brent crude futures fell after a Truth Social post from President Trump said officials in Venezuela will transfer "30 to 50 MILLION barrels of high-quality, sanctioned oil" to the U.S.
"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 said.
He added, "I have asked Energy Secretary Chris Wright to execute this plan immediately. The oil will be taken by storage ships and brought directly to unloading docks in the United States."
In markets, Brent crude fell 2.3% on supply concerns but has since clawed back some of the losses.
An earlier Bloomberg report detailed how Chevron contracted 11 tankers scheduled to arrive later this month at the Venezuelan government-controlled ports of Jose and Bajo Grande.
We're sure the Strategic Petroleum Reserve could use some of that Venezuelan crude oil...
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The US ambassador to the United Nations on Monday said that enemies of his country cannot be allowed to control vast oil reserves, such as the ones in Venezuela under President Nicolas Maduro.
Mike Waltz spoke less than two hours before Maduro made his first court appearance, not far from UN headquarters in Manhattan. Maduro is charged with narco-trafficking, among other charges, and has pleaded not guilty. "We're not going to allow the Western Hemisphere to be used as a base of operation for our nation's adversaries," Waltz said. "You cannot continue to have the largest energy reserves in the world under the control of adversaries of the United States, under the control of illegitimate leaders, and not benefiting the people of Venezuela."
He insisted, however, that despite the US president himself saying that his administration will be "running" Venezuela, the US will not be "occupying" the Latin American nation. "There is no war against Venezuela or its people," Waltz told the UN Security Council (UNSC). "We are not occupying a country."
US President Nicolas Maduro entered a not guilty plea in a federal courthouse in New York City on Monday, following his abduction by the US in the early hours of Saturday morning.
US attorney general Pam Bondi said Maduro has been charged with "Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States".
A federal grand jury returned an indictment against him and his wife, Cilia Flores, in 2020, under the first Trump administration. Five other defendants were named in the document, but not Flores.
Bondi has since shared an unsealed indictment that charges Flores and the couple's son, who was not abducted with them, with trafficking drugs. Flores is also accused of ordering kidnappings and murders, and accepting bribes.
In the US, an unsealed indictment is effectively the withholding of formal criminal charges until the suspects have appeared in court. On Monday, Flores also appeared in court next to her husband and pleaded not guilty.
Maduro's stunning abduction from Venezuela by US forces in the early hours of Saturday has been condemned by allies Russia and China, both of which are among the five permanent and veto-wielding members of the UNSC.
But the US also has that power, meaning there will likely be no accountability at the UN for its actions. The body's secretary general, Antonio Guterres, has already said he fears there may have been a violation of international law in abducting a head of state from a sovereign country.
UN member states must "refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state", the body's charter says.
A statement from Guterres on Monday, read by UN political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo to the UNSC, said he is "deeply concerned about the possible intensification of instability in [Venezuela], the potential impact on the region, and the precedent it may set for how relations between and among states are conducted".
He added that the UN will support all efforts at dialogue between the US and Venezuela. For his part, Venezuela's ambassador to the UN, Samuel Moncada, said the abduction was "an illegitimate armed attack lacking any legal justification".
The death count from the US attack on Venezuela has risen to 80, including civilians and members of security forces, according to a senior Venezuelan official who said the number could rise further, The New York Times reported on Monday.
The Trump admin's talking points on what was behind the Venezuela intervention have been shifting...
Pete Hegesth, "We spent decades, purchased in American blood and got nothing economically in return"
— Farrukh (@implausibleblog) January 5, 2026
"Now we can ensure we can access to additional wealth"
In case you had any doubt, it's all about oil pic.twitter.com/cac90Iid8x
US special forces abducted Venezuela's president from the capital, Caracas, early on Saturday, as American fighter jets bombed key military installations and bases across the country. Venezuela's acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, said the US seizure of Maduro had "Zionist undertones".
Rodriguez, who served as Maduro's vice president, has been appointed by the Supreme Court to lead the country on an interim basis.