Trump says Venezuela to give up to 50 million barrels of oil to U.S.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday evening that interim authorities in Venezuela will transfer between 30 million and 50 million barrels of oil to the United States.

Trump, a social media postHe said the oil would be sold at market price and would be controlled by me as President of the United States to ensure that this money was used for the benefit of Venezuela and the people of the United States.

“I asked Energy Minister Chris Wright Trump wrote that he should implement this plan immediately. “It will be picked up by storage ships and brought directly to unloading ports in the United States.”

Trump said the oil delivered to the United States was “high quality” and “certified.”

The announcement came three days after U.S. forces captured Venezuelan authoritarian leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife in Caracas and took them to New York to face federal charges in an alleged drug-trafficking conspiracy.

Wall StreetJournal Trump reportedly plans to meet with representatives of major US oil companies on Tuesday Strip, ConocoPhillipsAnd ExxonMobilalong with other domestic producers at the White House on Friday “to discuss making significant investments in Venezuela’s oil sector.”

Trump said U.S. oil companies would invest billions of dollars to rehabilitate Venezuela’s aging oil production capabilities.

Chevron currently operates in Venezuela and is the only US oil company to do so. ConocoPhillips and Exxon’s assets were nationalized by Venezuela’s then-President Hugo Chavez in the mid-2000s.

Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, pleaded not guilty at their arraignment in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Monday.

During the hearing, Maduro told Judge Alvin Hellerstein that he had been “kidnapped” and was a “prisoner of war.”