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Secretary Chris Wright Discusses Venezuelan Oil Sales and Refilling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve

January 11, 2026 · U.S. Department of Energy · 0:05:27

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

What happened

Fox News introduced Energy Secretary Chris Wright with a clip of President Trump saying Doug Burgum had recommended Wright as the greatest oil man anywhere in the world for the energy job. Asked how long until Venezuelan oil makes a dent in the price of a gallon of gas at home, Wright said it is a continual process, that gasoline prices were, inflation-adjusted, lower than they had been in 20 years, and that since the U.S. took over marketing Venezuelan crude it had already sold hundreds of millions of dollars of oil the previous week, with $500 million in an account — things were moving fast, he said, according to the interview.

Asked whether Venezuelan oil could refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which he noted the Biden years emptied to lower prices, Wright said it could: bringing much more oil onto the global market would drive down prices of oil, gasoline, diesel, and travel, which is good for all Americans and makes it easier to refill the reserve — something he said the president is committed to doing and will get done, as he stated it.

The program noted the White House had summoned leaders of the biggest oil companies that week, and played ExxonMobil’s Darren Woods saying the company’s assets had been seized in Venezuela twice and that under the legal and commercial frameworks in place the country was uninvestable; the interview then turned to how to get executives like Woods on board, according to the broadcast.

Why it matters

The January 11 interview gives the first sales figures for the U.S.-marketed Venezuelan crude program and ties that supply directly to the administration’s commitment to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

Scoreboard watch

Scoreboard watch: Wright’s January 11, 2026 statements — hundreds of millions of dollars of Venezuelan oil already sold with $500 million in an account, and the commitment to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve — are checkable claims flagged for the scoreboard editor.

Sources: U.S. Department of Energy, “Secretary Wright Joins Fox News’ Peter Doocy - January 11, 2026”, 2026-01-11 (official upload, embedded above; published 2026-01-11). Transcript via Supadata (private research store, paraphrased and attributed, not republished). All figures and characterizations as stated by the speakers.