U.S. Will Control Venezuelan Oil ‘Indefinitely’: Trump Admin-lllllllllll
Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Wednesday that the United States aims to restart Venezuelan oil production, place sales and revenue under U.S.-controlled accounts, and set conditions for American oil companies to operate in the country. Wright said the approach would also benefit the Venezuelan people.
Oil sales will be “done by the U.S. government and deposited into accounts controlled by the U.S. government,” he said, according to Newsmax.
“Then from there, those funds can flow back into Venezuela to benefit the Venezuelan people, but we need to have that leverage and that control of those oil sales to drive the changes that simply must happen in Venezuela,” he noted further.
Wright said he was in talks with U.S. oil companies to determine what conditions would allow them to operate in Venezuela and said he wanted Venezuelan oil to be sold to U.S. refineries.
“We’re going to market the crude coming out of Venezuela, first this backed-up, stored oil, and then indefinitely, going forward, we will sell the production that comes out of Venezuela into the marketplace,” Wright said.
He made the remarks at the Goldman Sachs Energy, CleanTech & Utilities Conference in Miami.
Over the weekend, President Donald Trump said the United States would “take control” of Venezuela after U.S. forces ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
U.S. oil executives visited the White House last week to discuss options for reviving Venezuela’s struggling oil sector.
Trump on Friday urged major energy companies to commit to rebuilding Venezuela’s oil infrastructure, hosting a White House meeting to press executives to invest billions of dollars in developing the country’s vast oil reserves.
Representatives from Chevron, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips and more than a dozen other oil and gas companies attended the meeting in the East Room, which took place less than a week after U.S. forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a raid in Caracas, CBS News reported.
The president has outlined a plan to sell millions of barrels of sanctioned Venezuelan oil, place the proceeds under U.S. control, and expand production capacity, an effort that would depend on large investments from American energy companies to rehabilitate Venezuela’s deteriorating oil infrastructure.
Trump has said he wants U.S. firms to invest about $100 billion in the initiative. During the public portion of Friday’s meeting, he urged executives to move quickly to tap what he described as the country’s “tremendous wealth” and said oil companies would receive security guarantees to operate in Venezuela.
Several executives acknowledged the potential opportunity but declined to make firm investment commitments, at least publicly, citing unresolved concerns about security.
That said, CNBC noted that Trump revealed that oil companies will spend at least $100 billion to rebuild Venezuela’s energy sector while the U.S. will provide security and protection so “they get their money back and make a very nice return.”
The U.S. will decide which oil companies enter Venezuela, the president said. The White House will “cut a deal with the companies” Friday or shortly thereafter, he said.
“One of the things the United States gets out of this will be even lower energy prices,” Trump said, per CNBC.
The White House initiated the meeting, according to an industry source, who said it was not requested by the oil companies.
Venezuela holds the world’s largest proven crude oil reserves, totaling about 303 billion barrels, or roughly 17% of global reserves. However, its oil industry is in severe decline. Production has fallen from a peak of around 3.5 million barrels per day in the 1990s to about 800,000 barrels per day currently.
Analysts estimate that restoring Venezuelan oil output to 3 million barrels per day would require more than $180 billion in investment through 2040, CNBC said.
Rep. Ilhan Omar Intensifies Criticism of Federal Immigration Enforcement
Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota sharply escalated her criticism of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations on Monday, accusing federal agents of treating Minneapolis as an occupying force and again calling for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s resignation or impeachment.
In remarks to constituents in Minneapolis, Omar repeatedly described the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal officers in the city as an inappropriate use of government authority, saying the situation has created fear among local residents. Omar said Minneapolis is “currently under occupation” and cited concerns about schools, hospitals and daily life as evidence of what she called harmful federal intervention.
“We do not exaggerate when we say we have schools where two-thirds of the students are afraid to go to school,” Omar said. “We do not exaggerate when we say we have people who are afraid to go to the hospital because our hospitals have occupying paramilitary forces.”
Omar referenced two recent fatalities during federal immigration operations in Minneapolis — the deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good — and argued those incidents underscored the need for new leadership at DHS. In her remarks, she blamed senior White House advisers for shaping the administration’s immigration policies.
“When we say it is time for Kristi Noem to go, we mean it now,” Omar added. “And there needs to be accountability for the architect of the terror we are facing in Minneapolis and so many other cities, which is Stephen Miller.”
Omar’s comments follow an appearance on MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes, where she reiterated those positions and broadened her critique to include senior administration officials. In that interview, she said Noem should resign or face impeachment, echoing earlier statements from House Democratic leadership. Omar also repeated criticism of Miller, a senior White House adviser on immigration policy, calling him a “copycat of the Nazis” and suggesting he should be prosecuted.
Her remarks also tied national Republican rhetoric on immigration to broader social tensions, asserting that aggressive enforcement language has “created anger” that can lead to confrontations with Somali immigrants and other community members in Minnesota.
Omar’s public criticism comes amid the ongoing federal immigration operation known as Operation Metro Surge. Federal agents have been deployed to Minneapolis to apprehend illegal immigrants with criminal convictions, drawing protests and heightened scrutiny from local officials and advocacy groups.
Democratic lawmakers, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), have called for increased oversight of DHS and ICE policies as part of broader negotiations over long-term funding for the Department of Homeland Security. Jeffries has publicly stated that Noem should be impeached if she does not resign, and Schumer has called for additional conditions on immigration enforcement in appropriations legislation.
In response to increased political pressure, DHS has taken steps to increase transparency in its operations. Earlier this week, Secretary Kristi Noem announced that body-worn cameras will be issued to all federal immigration enforcement officers deployed in Minneapolis as an immediate measure, with plans to expand the program nationwide as funding becomes available. “Effective immediately we are deploying body cameras to every officer in the field in Minneapolis,” Noem wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
Federal officials have said that some Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers present during the Jan. 24 shooting of Pretti were already equipped with body cameras, though full footage has not been released. Officials have not yet clarified whether ICE officers were wearing cameras during the earlier fatal encounter involving Good.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz responded to Noem’s announcement by saying body cameras should have been in place prior to the deaths of Pretti and Good, who were tragically killed while interfering with ICE law enforcement operations.
