Caracas (AFP) – The Secretary of Energy of the United States, Chris Wright, supervised on Wednesday in Caracas the signing of agreements with oil multinationals such as Chevron and Eni, after an unprecedented pact that gives his country control of 20% of the gigantic Venezuelan oil reserves.

First modification: 09/03/2026 - 00:27Last modification: 09/03/2026 - 10:03

Wright's visit to Caracas comes five days after US President Donald Trump announced the "largest oil deal in history," giving Washington majority control of 65 billion barrels.

Wright denied that the United States "steals" Venezuela's oil resources when responding to criticism that arose after the agreement.

"I've seen those headlines. 'We're stealing Venezuelan oil,' of course, that's not true at all! The resources, Venezuela's oil, effectively belong to the Venezuelan people," Chris Wright told AFP, who was part of a small group of journalists on the tarmac at Maiquetía airport.

"Private companies provide the money to produce the oil, but the benefits, royalties and taxes all go to the government of Venezuela and the people of Venezuela," he said.

The US secretary met at the Miraflores palace with the interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, and said he hoped that these agreements would bring "peace" and "prosperity" to Venezuela, which has the largest crude oil reserves on the planet.

The American Chevron, the first private producer in Venezuela, and the Italian Eni signed contracts that increase their participation in several fields.

Caracas also signed agreements with the company GE Vernova to repair the country's collapsed electrical network.

Investments and jobs

"The agreements being signed today, with billions of dollars of investment and ultimately many, many jobs created, are essential to begin bringing peace, opportunity and prosperity to all," Wright stated.

Wright told CNBC television that Venezuelan production, currently at 1.2 million barrels per day (b/d), "will exceed two million b/d by the end of this decade."

Dressed in a white suit, Rodríguez thanked Trump for the historic agreement signed on August 28.

"We are talking about the future of Venezuela and today we have also signed exploration agreements. We are entering a new stage of exploring new fields and new opportunities for Venezuela," said Rodríguez.

Trump considered that Venezuela "is not ready" to hold elections, and Rodríguez agreed with him shortly after. "There will be an electoral process, but under the conditions in which Venezuela is prepared," said the president.

Mike Wirth, Chevron's chief executive, said the oil company expects to "invest more than $7 billion and double production" to more than 500,000 b/d in the next five years.

These agreements contemplate new concessions in the Orinoco Belt and updated legal, fiscal and commercial terms, the company indicated in a statement.

Venezuela claims that oil production increased almost 30% after the fall of Nicolás Maduro in a US military operation on January 3.

However, the figure is still far from the 3 million b/d that Venezuela produced at the end of the nineties.

Rodríguez, who governs under pressure from Washington, promoted reforms in hydrocarbon and mining laws to open them to private capital.

He has said that this great agreement with the United States will bring Venezuela profits of 209 billion dollars in 25 years.

The agreement includes oil fields previously managed by Russian and Chinese companies.

The role of NABEP

The United States' war in Iran has skyrocketed crude oil prices. Getting cheaper oil is a priority for Trump ahead of the midterm elections in November, in which his Republican Party could lose control of Congress. Experts estimate, however, that the effect of this agreement will only be seen in a few years.

The White House released on Monday some details of the complex agreement to indirectly control Venezuelan oil resources.

He reported that the Rodríguez government granted North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP), the second private oil company in Venezuela, "concessions for 100 years for 17 oil fields with proven reserves of approximately 65,000 million barrels."

He also indicated that "NABEP has granted the United States War Department's Office of Strategic Capital a 35% equity interest in its parent company."

NABEP was founded by Venezuelan Alejandro Betancourt, who became rich with opaque businesses in the governments of Hugo Chávez (1999-2013) and Nicolás Maduro (2013-2026), and who has faced legal proceedings in Spain and Switzerland for money laundering.

"NABEP has demonstrated an extremely successful track record in producing large volumes of oil in Venezuela. That is a trading partner you can trust," Wright defended Wednesday.

© 2026 AFP

The content you requested does not exist or is no longer available.