Secretary Wright Tells Newsmax Venezuela's Oil Output Could Grow 30 to 50 Percent in 12 to 18 Months

Name: "Secretary Wright Tells Newsmax Venezuela's Oil Output Could Grow 30 to 50 Percent in 12 to 18 Months"
Uploaded: 2026-01-08
Duration: 5 min 46 s
Description: "Energy Secretary Chris Wright tells Greta Van Susteren that Venezuela's oil and electricity infrastructure is badly degraded, that oil proceeds will flow through a U.S.-controlled account back to Venezuela, and that major U.S. oil companies are eager to enter, according to the Energy Department upload."

January 8, 2026 · U.S. Department of Energy · 0:05:46

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

What happened

On Newsmax, host Greta Van Susteren asked Energy Secretary Chris Wright about the condition of Venezuela’s oil drilling and refining infrastructure. Wright said the administration has some knowledge of it — Chevron, an American company, has been there for over 100 years and he is very close to them — but that most of the infrastructure, including the electricity infrastructure and the road system, has been very poorly invested in; he called those problems an opportunity if rule of law and a cooperative agreement with the United States can produce enormous progress for both countries, as he stated it.

On proceeds, Wright said the United States is marketing the oil and the proceeds go into an account controlled by the United States, with all the money from oil and gas sales going into one account and then disbursed back into Venezuela for the benefit of America and of Venezuela — and that Venezuela will actually get more oil revenue going forward than before, because the U.S. can sell the oil at a much higher price, assure payment and remove corruption from the system, as he stated it. Asked how the money avoids repeating the Chavez-era pattern, he said Venezuela was a prosperous, wealthy, capitalist U.S. ally taken over by a socialist-communist dictatorship that made it an impoverished country a quarter of whose population has fled, and that U.S. control of the funds is leverage to ensure rule of law and economic institutions that allow growth and investment, according to his remarks.

Asked how big U.S. oil companies would be convinced to invest given past nationalization, Wright said no convincing is necessary: he has been in dialogue since the day Maduro was extradited to face charges with all the major oil and gas companies and tons of smaller ones, interest is quite high, companies will go in cautiously at first, and production can first be stabilized and then grown 30, 40 or 50 percent in the next 12 to 18 months, as he stated it.

Why it matters

This is Wright’s earliest extended television account of the Venezuela oil arrangement, including his production-growth estimate — 30 to 50 percent within 12 to 18 months, as he stated it — which sets the baseline later statements are checked against.

Sources: U.S. Department of Energy, “Secretary Wright Joins Newsmax’s Greta Van Susteren - January 8, 2026”, 2026-01-08 (official upload, embedded above; published 2026-01-08). Transcript via Supadata (private research store, paraphrased and attributed, not republished). All figures and characterizations as stated by the speakers.

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Chris Wright