US president says money from sale to be used to benefit both peoples of countries, with US energy secretary tasked with implementing plan. No response yet from Venezuela to the unilateral capture of its oil resources
By Rabia Iclal Turan
WASHINGTON (AA) – US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that interim authorities in Venezuela had agreed to transfer between 30 and 50 million barrels of sanctioned oil to the US to be sold at market price.
“I am pleased to announce that the Interim Authorities in Venezuela will be turning over between 30 and 50 MILLION Barrels of High Quality, Sanctioned Oil, to the United States of America,” Trump said in a statement via his social media company Truth Social.
“This Oil will be sold at its Market Price, and that money will be controlled by me, as President of the United States of America, to ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States!” he added.
The president added that Energy Secretary Chris Wright had been asked to execute the plan “immediately,” with the oil to be transported on storage ships directly to US unloading docks. No details have been provided on the utilisation of the proceeds of sale, other than that it will be controlled by Trump.
While there has not been a response from the Venuzuelan government, news media in the US, reports that this was but one of several demands the US is making on Venuzuela, using its blockade of oil exports to pressure that country to open the oil sector to the US on favourable terms, hand over all oil logistics to the US in order to block deliveries to rivals and to sever ties with China, Russia, Iran and Cuba.
Meanwhile, US Vice President JD Vance confirmed on Tuesday that the military operation in Venezuela is aimed at curbing funding for narco-terrorism and giving Washington greater control over global energy resources.
“Whoever the leader of that country is, is going to have to play ball with the United States,” he said, emphasising that previous Venezuelan policies had allowed foreign competitors access to cheap energy while using revenue to fund activities that threaten the US.
US forces launched widespread airstrikes early on Saturday on targets in northern Venezuela, including air defence systems and communications infrastructure, while special operations forces conducted a raid in the capital Caracas to kidnap the country’s President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
During the first hearing in their trial on drug- and weapons-related charges, both Maduro and Flores pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The Trump administration has framed the operation as part of a revived enforcement of the Monroe Doctrine and a crackdown on alleged narco-trafficking and corruption, while also explicitly linking it to securing US influence over Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.
However, the motives for the attack on Venuzuela was also suspected to be around taking control of Venuzuela’s oil reserves, know to be the world’s largest proven reserve. Trump’s latest statement underlines the US interests are focused on the oil reserves.
Already, Chevron has chartered a fleet of at least 11 tankers scheduled to arrive in Venezuela in January, as the US embargo continues on that nation’s oil following a recent US military operation, according to a Bloomberg report on Tuesday.
The ships are headed to the Venezuelan government-controlled ports of Jose and Bajo Grande to load crude oil destined exclusively for refineries in the US, it said. – Anadulo Agency