The Secretary of Energy of the United States, Chris Wright, reiterated this Tuesday that the Washington Government wants "a lot of investment" from American companies in Venezuela to materialize. His statements come during his official visit to the South American country, just days after the President of the United States, Donald Trump, announced that his Administration has achieved "majority control" over one-fifth of Venezuela's crude oil reserves, a move that the President himself has defined as "the largest oil deal in world history."
Upon his arrival at Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetía, the main Venezuelan airport, Wright emphasized to the media, according to the television network Globovisión, that "We want to see many investments coming from the United States in Venezuela to increase opportunities and prosperity for Venezuelans and Americans, and for energy consumers."
The Energy official specified that Washington's intention is to facilitate the arrival of private capital through the involvement of various companies in the Venezuelan energy business. In this context, he referred to the existence of "important agreements" already underway related to the development of hydrocarbons in the country.
Last Saturday, Trump bragged on social media about having achieved that the United States obtains majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of proven oil reserves in Venezuela, without it costing the American taxpayer anything.
This understanding with Caracas, which has the largest proven crude reserves on the planet, estimated at more than 300 billion barrels and surpassing those of Saudi Arabia, implies that Washington would gain control over 65 billion of those barrels. That amount would far exceed, more than double, the current certified reserves of the United States, estimated at around 38 billion barrels.
The approximately 300,000 million Venezuelan barrels correspond to around 17% of the world's oil supply, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Unlike other territories where it is still necessary to explore to locate new deposits, the resources under the Venezuelan subsoil are largely identified and mapped, according to specialists. However, the severe deterioration of the energy infrastructure means that the country only contributes around 1% of global production, a limitation that could have implications for Washington in the long term.
Support from the Venezuelan military high command for the pact with the United States
In relation to this agreement with the United States, the Minister of Popular Power for Defense, General in Chief Gustavo González López, had already spoken out previously. Accompanied by the military leadership, and as Globovisión also reported this Tuesday, he expressed the support of the military high command for the signing of the energy understanding.
"If you were to ask me this agreement in one word: this is prosperity and well-being for the country," González López stated last Friday after holding a meeting with the acting president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez.
The Minister of Defense has indicated that the military leadership supports "all the terms of the recent strategic agreement that the country has had with the United States regarding energy development in the oil fields," and added that the fact of "transforming a political difference into an economic cooperation agreement is merely a decision to go to peace" and not a "subordination."