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Secretary Wright Explains the Venezuela Oil Blockade and U.S.-Managed Crude Sales to CNBC, Jan. 7, 2026

January 7, 2026 · U.S. Department of Energy · 0:14:13

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

CNBC reported, as stated by its hosts, that Venezuela will ship sanctioned oil to the United States indefinitely, and Brian Sullivan interviewed Secretary Wright at an energy conference in South Florida. Asked what the United States hopes to get from Venezuela and its oil, Wright said, as he stated it, that the goals are to stop the importing of crime and drugs into the United States and to reduce the foothold adversaries are gaining in the Western Hemisphere, and he noted, as he stated it, a 25-page unsealed indictment of Nicolás Maduro and a $25 million bounty placed on him by the prior administration, as he stated it.

Wright said, as he stated it, that Venezuela was a major oil producer and could be again, and that the President’s idea was to arrest an indicted criminal and then use oil and commerce instead of guns and soldiers to alter Venezuela’s trajectory. He said Venezuelan oil production has fallen from 3.5 million barrels a day to, as he stated it, 700,000 or 800,000 a day.

Asked directly whether the United States is taking Venezuela’s oil, Wright said, as he stated it, that it is not taking the oil: the United States has blockaded Venezuela’s oil sales, choking off cash flow, and will now restart the selling of Venezuelan oil on global crude markets, put the proceeds into accounts in the name of Venezuela, and bring the funds back into Venezuela for the benefit of the Venezuelan people, while controlling the flow of the funds to keep leverage over those in power, as he stated it. He said, as he stated it, that the 30 to 50 million barrels the President had referenced are oil already produced and sitting in floating storage on mostly sanctioned gray-market tankers and in onshore storage, which the tankers will now be allowed to move while the United States markets the crude, with the Venezuelan government’s understanding, as he stated it.

Why it matters

This is the first detailed explanation of the Venezuela oil arrangement by the secretary running it: blockade, U.S.-marketed sales, revenue in Venezuela’s name under U.S. control of the flow. Every later development in the arrangement measures against this description.

Scoreboard watch

Secretary Wright’s account of the arrangement — a blockade lifted for U.S.-marketed sales of 30 to 50 million barrels of stored Venezuelan crude, continuing indefinitely as CNBC reported it, with proceeds held in Venezuela’s name under U.S. control of the flow, all as he stated it — is a checkable description of a dated policy action. Flagged as a scoreboard candidate for the editor; no verdict is published from this page.

Sources: U.S. Department of Energy, “Secretary Wright Joins CNBC’s Brian Sullivan - January 7, 2026”, 2026-01-07 (official upload, embedded above; published 2026-01-07). Transcript via Supadata (private research store, paraphrased and attributed, not republished). All figures and characterizations as stated by the speakers.