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This course all plays into the oil markets, which we're listening closely today, Tyler to the President's meeting with top oil executives as the administration pursues its plans to revive the Venezuelan oil industry with the leadership of one cabinet secretary, in particular.
Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, recommended by Doug as being the greatest oilman anywhere in the world, because I wanted Doug for that job Energy, and Doug said, no, sir, there is a man named Chris Wright.
I said, who the hell is Chris?
Right, He said, he's the most talented oil man anywhere in the world.
The most talented oil man anywhere in the world. While he's on the north lawn of the White House right now and with us live on balance of Power, the aforementioned US Energy Secretary, Chris Wright, it's great to see you, mister secretary.
That was quite a meeting.
We were listening and watching here on Bloomber while you were in the East Room with the President and more than a dozen oil executives. And of course there's a big ask here when we're talking about one hundred billion dollars over ten years. I believe that's the outline that we heard, and we'd love to explore this with you. With some concerns about security guarantees and questions about return
on investment. Secretary, are you asking these major oil companies to work harder and potentially make less money?
Oh? I don't think that's the case.
There's tremendous interest because of the resources in Venezuela, the history in Venezuela, and of course, these business men and women are patriotic Americans.
They're excited to be part of Team USA.
They're excited to see a pivot in the business conditions in Venezuela, and if several are already on the ground, they're going to ramp up investments, I mean immediately in the next few weeks.
So yeah, can we achieve.
One hundred billion dollars investment over the next ten years? I think absolutely. But what we're one week in right now President Trump's leadership. I think we've had a tremendous week of progress transformation in Venezuela and excited to see what comes in the weeks and months ahead.
Well, mister Secretary, can you outline any of the agreements that the administration was able to ink today because President Trump said that there was going to be a few deals made in that room.
Oh well, look, we have Chevron on the ground in the country right now, largest oil producer in Venezuela right now. I think with some of the moves that we can do with them, which is just licensing them to move ahead with projects they've already lined up. They mentioned the ability to grow their production by fifty percent in the next eighteen to twenty four months. This is the largest producer in Venezuela.
That's tremendous.
Oh, we know, they've been there for about one hundred years. I think, as the President said, the question is who will join them? Mister secretary, And I'm wondering when it comes to incentives and security guarantees, what you can tell us. You heard from the CEO of Exxon Mobile, Darren Woods, describing his assets being seized twice. He referred to Venezuela
as uninvestable. When you talk about security guarantees, is that a military security guarantee or would there be private security contractors involved.
Look, we don't know the details of that stuff yet, but what we want to do is put the incentives in place to transform the situation on the ground in Venezuela. I'm sure you've seen the giant a rally saying libre Venezuela. This is a government that for twenty five years has just crushed people's rights, crushed their property, made it unsafe, essentially a large narco drug, gun and human running operation. So lots of room for improvement. But I'm quite optimistic.
We're going to have to see in the coming weeks how things evolve. But with President Trump's leadership with the United States, his partnership, can we make a pivot and get Venezuela going in the right direction?
Absolutely?
And the key partners to watch are the ones that are already there.
How do their operations.
Change in the next few weeks, in the next few months for the new for the re entrance like excell And yet that's going to be a longer term process of course.
Okay, and I hear your optimism, Secretary, But just to understand, you haven't gotten to the point on the ground where you can determine what security apparatus would be necessary. Is that safe to say?
That's safe to say in seven days we don't have the full on the ground assessment done yet.
Has the administration ruled out putting the US military on the ground as a security guarantee.
President Trump of course never rules out options, but that is definitely not in the plans.
That is not the plan.
The plan is to use the military power that's manning the blockade of the oil so we can stop the criminals and stop our adversaries from taking oil out of Venezuela and have a more orderly, safe process.
What's going on.
But the plan today and I think very likely, will not involve US military operations on the ground in Venezuela. This is a partnership with some incentives based on a blockade and a partnership between the interim authorities in Venezuela and the United States government and in oil and gas companies from America and.
Around the world.
There's some questions Secretary right about the role that World Bank money might play, knowing that in many cases there was money seized. World Bank ruled that Venezuela owed over eight billion dollars to Conico. Phillips Exon Mobil says it lost more than sixteen billion dollars. Chevron has its own number. Is the administration working with the World Bank to unlock that money to help fund this investment.
Yeah.
Look, the Venezuelan government has been horrible to the businesses that have been there and the people in Venezuela. So there's a lot of money that's owed, there's a lot of redress that's needed to have happened. But in the short term, the goal is to flund is to flow funds to the interim authorities in Venezuela, stop the collapse of the local currency, the boulevard, and get the economy
stabilized and then moving in a positive direction. We have short term issues that are today much more urgent than ultimately resolving the claims that many companies have against the Venezuelan government. But progress are free, prosperous. Venezuela can resolve those debts and those problems over time. The goal is to get from freefall it's been in for the last few years and get it go in the other direction.
Well.
Relatedly, the Interior Secretary Doug Bergham told Bloomberg Television earlier today that the US is unlikely to provide financial support. That appear to be echoed by the President today. Can you confirm any financial incentives offered to these companies to go into Venezuela.
Now they were not, you know, oil and gasping that you had state control in Venezuela and it took thriving oil industry and just crushed it. What we want is capitalist, free market forces a business, private enterprise to go in and do what business does, which is figure out how to operate in all different kinds of environments, generate positive cash flow, employ Venezuelans, improve the social conditions, and then things spiral up. We've had twenty years of things spiraling down.
We're going to see him spiral up. But no, we don't need US government money to incent companies to go down to Venezuela. They're going to get down there to make money for their shareholders, to help the United States, and to improve the lives of Venezuelans.
We heard what the President said earlier, Secretary that you're the best oil man in the world. I'm wondering would you be comfortable going to Venezuela yourself to get the lay of the land. Do you plan to go?
Oh, I'm sure I will be going to Venezuela before too long.
Absolutely, a mister Secretary, the President said that the companies would be dealing directly with the US.
I believe he.
Said that the US doesn't want the companies dealing at all with Venezuela. Is that true? How is this actually going to work moving forward? And can you outline what the current communications look like between the US and the interim Venezuelan government when it comes to reviving production in the country.
Yeah, again, remember where we are.
We are only one week into this transformation, So yeah, only a few of us in the United States government are dealing with a few people that are in the interim authorities in Venezuela right now. So the whole framework of communication and how things are going to work, that's going to evolve over time. Right now, we're in emergency mode. We're in stabilizing the country, stabilizing the economy, dealing with a few.
People, and all of that will unfold with time. But we're one week in.
Is the acting President Delsia Rodriguez on board with the President's plan as you understand it? And Energy Secretary, have you spoken with her yourself?
I have not spoken with Delsey directly myself yet, but my colleague from the State Department has and so, look, we're in communication, A few of us are in communication with a team of people down there, and I would say incentives are very aligned. They want a better Venezuela, They want to stop a free fall of their economy. They want to work with the United States to grow the revenues that flow into the country. If you sell more oil, you sell it at a higher price. Everyone
wins by that. I would say all of our interactions so far have been highly constructive.
What was the mood in the room today, mister Secretary? And were there any assurances made that US oil policy won't shift when it comes to Venezuela, Because our understanding is this is a decades long project that could be underway. What is there to say that the incentive and the priority would be different under a different administration. Did you have any sort of conversations like that with these companies?
Oh? Yes, Look, the bigger companies, they operate in countries all around the world. You know, Venezuela is certainly not the only country that's that's gone through phases of very poor governance. Heck, we had we had four years of the Biden administration where he came in guaranteeing he would end the oil and gas industry.
That was our own government that pledgs that.
Now, it didn't seize assets, but it sure talked like it was going to. So hostile government environments are not they're not new to oil and gas companies. I think that's sad, that's unfortunate, but so that they're realistic people. They understand there's trade offs and challenges everywhere. But again, even in this free fall, we've got several companies operating today.
They're immediately feeling that business.
Conditions are about to get better for them and they're going to ramp up their investments. If you're not in the country yet, of course you're going to be a little bit more cautious. But we're going to have teams on the ground investigating, following what's happening with production and the facilities, seeing what the safety and security situation is
like and how that progresses. But I have no doubt at all we will see massive increases in investment from many companies into the oil and gas industry in Venezuela, and the production profile will reflect that. We'll see growing production later this year, hopefully by this summer, and we'll see better economic conditions and better quality lives for.
The people in Venezuela.
All those are critical for the US objectives to end criminality and the exporting of problems to the American people, and the restrictions on oil production that just make gasoline and diesel and plane travel more expensive for Americans, increase American security, and increase security in Venezuela. This is a big challenge, and without a bold president like President Trump, we wouldn't be where we are today.
We'd just be still.
Watching a twenty five year slide into oblivion, Venezuela becoming a failed state.
We don't want to see that happen.
Well, just lastly, and we'll let you go in from the rain, Secretary, I just wonder how this whole story camelides, if at all, with the new demand to revive our nuclear sector. And we saw a big example of it today with Meta cutting a series of deals with three nuclear providers, including one you used to be on the board at Akloh. And we saw quite a response today
as the data center demand continues here. If this glut of oil is about to come on the market, does that slow the haste to authorize new nuclear plants?
No, not at all, Not at all the world in a billion people live a lifestyle like you and I do, and seven billion people want to live a lifestyle like you and I. The world needs massively more energy of all different kinds. In the United States, only in Hawaii and New England because of crazy policies. Do we ever use oil to generate electricity.
It's used for.
Different things that nuclear plants that we're going to build right now, they're going to generate electricity that's not even in the same energy realm of oil.
But we need more oil. We need more.
Natural gas, we need more nuclear power, we need more geothermal. We need more energy to better people's lives, lower costs in our country, and grow economic opportunities for Americans. This is a pro energy, pro America, pro jobs president, and to me that's very refreshing. But no, nuclear and oil are not competitive. We want them both
To thrive, all right, US Energy Secretary Christopher Right, mister Secretary, thank you so much for joining us here on Bloomberg