The President of the United States, Donald Trump, stated this Wednesday that 50 million barrels of oil from Venezuela are in transit to refineries in Houston, where they will be processed, as part of his administration's energy policy.
Trump stated that his administration is “reinforcing our commitment to American energy independence and dominance,” and emphasized the significance of the energy relationship with Venezuela, noting that the crude oil is part of his efforts to obtain energy from diverse sources and maintain the country's leadership in that sector.
He added that a new close relationship with Venezuela has enabled this flow of crude oil to Houston, a key component of his administration's strategy to strengthen energy supply and ensure trade, peace, prosperity, employment, and opportunities, according to statements attributed to his Secretary of Energy in recent comments.
In parallel with that announcement, the United States Secretary of Energy, Christopher Wright, arrived this Wednesday in Caracas, Venezuela, in what is being described as a historic high-level visit between Washington and that country following the U.S. military intervention that culminated in the capture of dictator Nicolás Maduro in January 2026.
Wright was received at the Miraflores Palace by interim president Delcy Rodríguez and held meetings with her and other Venezuelan representatives to advance a bilateral energy agenda and the three-phase plan promoted by the Trump administration: stabilization, recovery, and transition.
The visit is regarded as the most significant in decades for a senior U.S. official in Venezuela and is part of the United States' efforts to reconfigure energy cooperation with Caracas and jointly explore opportunities for production, investments, and modernization of the Venezuelan oil industry.
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