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Wright Speaks on American Energy and the U.S.-Venezuela Energy Deal, Jan. 7, 2026

January 7, 2026 · U.S. Department of Energy · 0:52:18

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

Energy Secretary Chris Wright spoke on American energy and the U.S.-Venezuela energy deal, in the Department of Energy’s upload of the January 7, 2026 Goldman Sachs conference conversation, introduced by the firm’s head of natural resources equity research for North America. Wright opened on Venezuela: everyone in the room who runs an oil and gas company employs Venezuelans, he said, because a quarter of the country was forced to flee during a 25-year decline from a prosperous American ally — the backdrop, in his telling, for restoring Venezuelan production.

Wright ranged across AI, nuclear, and the future of oil and gas, returning to electricity prices: states with renewable portfolio standards, he said, have over 50 percent higher electricity rates than states without them, and over the last five years those states’ prices rose at twice the rate of inflation while non-RPS states’ prices rose below inflation — despite natural gas, the largest source of U.S. electricity, having plummeted in price, as he stated the figures. On data centers, he argued demand growth lowers prices rather than raising them, citing North Dakota’s over 30 percent electricity-output growth alongside declining prices, as he stated it.

Why it matters

The Goldman Sachs conversation is Wright’s earliest long-form statement of the two arguments that structure his 2026 record — the Venezuela restoration case he carried to Caracas five weeks later, and the portfolio-standard price analysis he repeated in Colorado in March — delivered to the energy industry’s own investors.

Scoreboard watch

Scoreboard watch: Secretary Wright’s figures at the Goldman Sachs conference on January 7, 2026 — renewable-portfolio-standard states at over 50 percent higher electricity rates and twice-inflation price growth over five years, and North Dakota’s 30-percent-plus output growth with declining prices, all as he stated them. Flagged for the scoreboard editor; no entry is published from this page.

Sources: U.S. Department of Energy, “Secretary Wright Speaks on American Energy & U.S.-VZ Energy Deal - January 7, 2026” (official upload, embedded above; conversation as delivered by Secretary Wright).