The U.S. Secretary of Energy, Chris Wright, landed on Tuesday at Maiquetía International Airport, near Caracas, to participate in the signing of a new contract for Chevron in the Orinoco Oil Belt, just four days after Washington and Caracas announced what Trump described as the largest oil deal in history.
The American delegation was received at around 8:30 PM local time by the Venezuelan Minister of Hydrocarbons, Paula Henao, and the U.S. Chargé d'Affaires in Venezuela, John Barrett.
In front of the press gathered in Maiquetía, Wright was straightforward about the intentions of his visit: "We want to see a lot of investment from the United States in Venezuela to increase opportunities and prosperity for Venezuelans, Americans, and energy consumers."
The secretary added that the goal is to increase "the flow of private capital from a large number of American companies."
On his account on X, he celebrated that "President Trump's energy diplomacy is yielding results: driving new energy agreements, opening the door for American companies, and strengthening energy security throughout the hemisphere."
A U.S. official who spoke with reporters on the condition of anonymity confirmed that Chevron will announce this Wednesday "the expansion of its current operations in the country, which will also increase Venezuela's production capacity."
According to a report by América Económica, the oil company is negotiating rights over two large heavy crude fields in the Carabobo region, within the Orinoco Oil Belt, close to assets that it is already exploiting through PetroIndependencia alongside PDVSA.
This expansion by Chevron is separate from the mega-deal announced last Friday, although it aligns with the same oil relaunch strategy that Washington has been promoting since Nicolás Maduro's capture in January.
This historic agreement between the U.S. and Venezuela grants concessions for 100 years on 17 fields with proven reserves of approximately 65 billion barrels - about 21% of Venezuela's total - to the private company North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP), founded by Venezuelan entrepreneur Alejandro Betancourt López.
The White House confirmed that the Office of Strategic Capital of the U.S. Department of War acquired a 35% stake in the parent company of NABEP at no cost to taxpayers, while the Department of State will have the right to purchase 20% of the produced oil at cost price.
The acting president Delcy Rodríguez described the agreement as a "historic milestone" lasting 25 years with a production target exceeding 1.5 million barrels per day, although she insisted that Venezuela retains constitutional sovereignty over its hydrocarbons.
On the day of Wright's arrival, the Venezuelan parliament - dominated by the ruling party - and the Armed Forces supported the agreement. The Minister of Defense, General Gustavo González López, stated through VTV: "We accompany, approve and agree with all the terms of the recent strategic agreement that the country has reached with the United States."
There was also a support from the Venezuelan Socialist Party for the agreement, which represents a historic shift in the Chavista discourse on oil sovereignty.
However, the pact also sparked protests in Caracas and criticism from Venezuelan opposition members and Democratic congressmen in the U.S., who described it as "epic-scale corruption."
It is the second visit by Wright to Venezuela; the first was in February, when he toured Chevron facilities in the Orinoco Belt and projected that Venezuelan oil would generate 10 billion dollars for the U.S.
Diplomatic relations between the two countries, which had been severed since 2019, were reestablished last March, two months after Maduro's capture.
The substantive meetings of the U.S. delegation are scheduled for this Wednesday, when Chevron is also set to make its expansion announcement.
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