Venezuela ‘turning over’ $2bn in oil to US, Trump says, in move that could cut supply to China | Venezuela
Donald Trump says Venezuela will “transfer” $2 billion worth of Venezuelan crude oil to the United States; This is an important negotiation that will divert supplies from China and help Venezuela avoid deeper oil production cuts.
“This Oil will be sold at the Market Price and this money will be controlled by me as President of the United States to ensure that it is used for the benefit of Venezuela and the people of the United States!” Embers he said in an online post.
Venezuelan government officials and state company PDVSA had no comment.
Venezuela has millions of barrels of oil loaded into tankers and storage tanks that it cannot transport due to the blockade imposed by Trump, as part of the pressure campaign that resulted in the overthrow of Nicolás Maduro, who was seized from his country by US forces at the weekend.
Senior Venezuelan officials called Maduro’s capture a kidnapping and accused the United States of trying to steal the country’s large oil reserves; But Tuesday’s deal is a strong sign that the government is responding to Trump’s demand that U.S. oil companies open up or risk further military intervention.
Trump said he wants interim president Delcy Rodríguez to give the United States and private companies “full access” to Venezuela’s oil industry.
Stating that US Energy Secretary Chris Wright is responsible for the execution of the agreement, Trump added that the oil will be taken from ships and sent directly to US ports. Supplying the stuck crude to the United States may require reallocating cargoes originally destined for China, two sources told Reuters early on Tuesday.
China has been Venezuela’s largest buyer over the past decade and especially since the United States imposed sanctions on companies trading oil with Venezuela in 2020.
US crude oil prices fell more than 1.5% following Trump’s announcement, with the deal expected to increase the volume of Venezuelan oil exported to the US. This oil flow is currently controlled entirely by PDVSA’s main joint venture partner, Chevron, with the permission of the United States.
Chevron, which exports between 100,000 and 150,000 barrels of Venezuelan oil per day to the United States, is the only company that has been loading and shipping crude oil from the South American country uninterruptedly in recent weeks under the blockade.
It is not yet clear whether Venezuela will have access to revenues from the supply. The sanctions mean PDVSA is excluded from the global financial system, its bank accounts are frozen and it is prevented from conducting transactions in US dollars
Hours before Trump’s announcement on Tuesday, Rodríguez hardened his voice against the United States, saying in a televised speech that “No foreign agent can run Venezuela”; This clearly refuted the US president’s claim that the US would now rule the South American country after Maduro’s capture.
This marked another change in the attitude of Maduro’s former vice president. After being sworn in as president by Venezuela’s supreme court on Saturday, Rodríguez issued a conciliatory statement late Sunday in which he “called on the U.S. government to work together on a cooperation agenda.”
But in his speech on Tuesday, Rodríguez used harsher language, describing Saturday’s attack – the first large-scale US military operation on South American soil – as a “terrible military assault” and a “criminal attack” whose “absolutely illegal outcome, in violation of international law” was the “kidnapping” of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
Rodríguez, who has served as Maduro’s vice president since 2018, said, “We are a people who do not surrender, who do not give up, and we are here, we govern together with the people. In our country, the Venezuelan government rules, not anyone else. There is no external agent ruling Venezuela. Venezuela is its constitutional government and the consolidated power of the people.”
via Reuters
