U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told oil company executives on Wednesday that Venezuela’s output can rise 30% from its current level of 900,000 barrels per day in the short- to medium-term, three executives who attended the meeting said.
Raising crude output from Venezuela, which sits on the world’s largest oil reserves, is a top objective for U.S. President Donald Trump after U.S. forces seized Venezuela’s leader Nicolas Maduro in a raid earlier this month.
Wright’s closed-door meeting with the executives took place on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Years of under-investment and sanctions have led Venezuela’s oil output to plummet. It pumped 3.5 million bpd in the 1970s when it accounted for 7% of global supply, but today represents just 1% of the world’s production.
Trump has said the U.S. plans to control Venezuela’s oil resources indefinitely as it seeks to rebuild its dilapidated oil industry in a $100 billion plan. So far, his administration has taken 50 million barrels of oil out of Venezuela, and is selling some of it in the open market, Trump said on Tuesday.
Trump met with over 15 oil executives earlier this month at the White House, during which Exxon CEO Darren Woods told Trump that Venezuela would need to change its laws before it could be an attractive investment opportunity.
Oil analysts and executives have been skeptical about a quick revival of Venezuela’s oil sector, pointing out that its degraded infrastructure would require billions of dollars and years to rebuild.
Venezuela’s oil reserves are also among the world’s costliest to develop, because its crude is so thick and heavy it requires specialised equipment to extract, transport and refine into usable fuels.
(Reporting by Dmitry Zhdannikov; Writing by Stephanie Kelly; Editing by Joe Bavier)