NEW YORK: The United States is not attempting to steal Venezuelan oil and is only trying to control fuel sales and transactions, US Secret...
NEW YORK: The United States is not attempting to steal Venezuelan oil and is only trying to control fuel sales and transactions, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said.
"We are just controlling the marketing and the flow of funds in Venezuela so those funds can be used to better the conditions of the Venezuelan people and reduce the risks to the American people," he said. "Well, we're not stealing anyone's oil."
At the same time, Wright said that on the day of the US military operation in Venezuela he phoned the heads of three major oil companies to discuss prospects of their future work in the Bolivarian Republic.
In his words, companies are not yet ready to invest heavily in Venezuela.
"Are they going to put billions of dollars building new infrastructure in Venezuela next week? Of course not. You've got to have transformation of the conditions there. But they want to be productive advisors and helpers in that process," the US energy secretary said.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil Pinto said on January 3 that the United States had attacked civilian and military facilities in Caracas. He condemned Washington’s actions as a military aggression. A state of emergency has been imposed in Venezuela. US President Donald Trump has confirmed the attack on Venezuela. According to the US leader, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife have been captures and taken out of the country. They were later brought to the United States and are held in a detention facility in Brooklyn, southern New York. On January 5, Maduro and his wife appeared before the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. US authorities accuse them of involvement in drug trafficking, allegations both defendants have denied.
Trump also claimed that the United States would assume interim governance of Venezuela. In addition, the US president expressed confidence that Washington would secure compensation from Caracas for US oil companies. Trump said Venezuela's interim government would be "turning over" between 30 and 50 million barrels of "high quality" oil to the US.
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