The US will control Venezuelan oil sales indefinitely

The US will sell blockaded Venezuelan oil indefinitely, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Wednesday, a day after President Trump said Venezuela will give the US between 30 million and 50 million barrels of sanctioned oil.

Wright said the proceeds from those sales would be “deposited into accounts controlled by the US government” and then “flow back into Venezuela to benefit the Venezuelan people.” Wright made the statements even as the United States the same morning seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker that was linked to Venezuela.

“Instead of the oil being blockaded, as it is right now, we’re gonna let the oil flow … to United States’ refineries and around the world to bring better oil supplies, but have those sales done by the US government,” he said at Goldman Sachs’ Energy, CleanTech & Utilities Conference.

“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 added.

The move would be a huge step up in the Trump administration’s moves to pressure Venezuela’s interim government and essentially have the United States take over the country’s oil industry.

President Donald Trump announced late Tuesday that Wright would lead a US plan to sell up to 50 million barrels of sanctioned Venezuelan crude turned over to the US by the country’s interim authorities, an amount market analysts estimated could yield up to $2.5 billion.

Proceeds from the sale will first settle in US-controlled accounts at globally recognized banks to guarantee the legitimacy and integrity of the ultimate distribution of proceeds, the Energy Department said after Wright’s remarks.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the oil will be arriving “very soon,” although market analysts have said it could take months for the full amount to reach US ports.

The oil is “basically sitting in barrels, sitting on ships because of the effective quarantine of the United States of America,” Leavitt said at a press conference. Leavitt added “there are no troops on the ground in Venezuela” but that “the president reserves the right to use the United States military if necessary.”

It still remains to be seen how lucrative this will be, but it is very possible that this could be a recurring boon for the US government.