US Announces Plan To Take ‘Indefinite’ Control Of Venezuelan Oil Sales

The United States has announced a sweeping plan to take control of Venezuela’s oil sales “indefinitely", saying it will market crude held in storage as well as all future production from the country’s vast reserves.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the US would begin selling the oil that has been backed up for months amid sanctions, before moving to long-term oversight of production flows. “We’re just going to get that crude moving again and sell it," he said. “We’re going to market the crude coming out of Venezuela – first this backed-up stored oil and then indefinitely going forward."

The US has already started marketing Venezuelan crude and plans to sell up to $3bn worth of stranded oil sitting in tankers and storage facilities. President Donald Trump said Venezuela would relinquish 50 million barrels of crude for the US to sell, valuing the shipment at about $2.8 billion. In a post, he wrote: “That money will be controlled by me, as President … It will be taken by storage ships, and brought directly to unloading docks in the United States."