(Bloomberg) – With private companies on the cusp of signing a series of deals that will put Venezuela on pace to rapidly expand its crude output, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said that China won’t have any debt claims to the revenue from new production.
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright. Image: official portrait
There are efforts underway to restructure Venezuela’s debt, Wright said in a Bloomberg Television interview in Caracas.
Wright, who is scheduled to meet with acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez during his visit to the country, is expected to announce more than a dozen agreements with energy companies on Wednesday. The largest is with Chevron Corp., which is significantly expanding its Venezuela operations with two giant oil fields in the Orinoco Belt. Deals have also already been signed with GE Vernova Inc. and Eni SpA, Wright said.
“Venezuela’s got a lot of historical debt,” Wright said in the interview. “These fields will be developed for the benefit of the Venezuelan people, for the benefit of Americans and for the benefit of global energy markets.”
Trump officials have cast the effort to enlist oil companies from the U.S. and elsewhere to work in Venezuela as a way to limit the influence of Chinese and Russian companies in the region. Shell Plc, bp Plc and Spain’s Repsol SA and also are expected to sign deals, Rodríguez said earlier this week on Venezuelan state television.
Meanwhile, as Venezuela works with the U.S., the OPEC founder member is consideringwhether it should quit the oil cartel it helped create more than six decades ago.
Wright said he hasn’t had conversations with Venezuela’s officials on whether the South American nation should leave OPEC.
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