Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2: This course all plays into the oil markets, which we're
Speaker 2: listening closely today, Tyler to the President's meeting with top
Speaker 2: oil executives as the administration pursues its plans to revive
Speaker 2: the Venezuelan oil industry with the leadership of one cabinet secretary,
Speaker 2: in particular.
Speaker 1: Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, recommended by Doug as being
Speaker 1: the greatest oilman anywhere in the world, because I wanted
Speaker 1: Doug for that job Energy, and Doug said, no, sir,
Speaker 1: there is a man named Chris Wright.
Speaker 3: I said, who the hell is Chris?
Speaker 1: Right, He said, he's the most talented oil man anywhere
Speaker 1: in the world.
Speaker 2: The most talented oil man anywhere in the world. While
Speaker 2: he's on the north lawn of the White House right
Speaker 2: now and with us live on balance of Power, the
Speaker 2: aforementioned US Energy Secretary, Chris Wright, it's great to see you,
Speaker 2: mister secretary.
Speaker 3: That was quite a meeting.
Speaker 2: We were listening and watching here on Bloomber while you
Speaker 2: were in the East Room with the President and more
Speaker 2: than a dozen oil executives. And of course there's a
Speaker 2: big ask here when we're talking about one hundred billion
Speaker 2: dollars over ten years. I believe that's the outline that
Speaker 2: we heard, and we'd love to explore this with you.
Speaker 2: With some concerns about security guarantees and questions about return
Speaker 2: on investment. Secretary, are you asking these major oil companies
Speaker 2: to work harder and potentially make less money?
Speaker 3: Oh? I don't think that's the case.
Speaker 4: There's tremendous interest because of the resources in Venezuela, the
Speaker 4: history in Venezuela, and of course, these business men and
Speaker 4: women are patriotic Americans.
Speaker 3: They're excited to be part of Team USA.
Speaker 4: They're excited to see a pivot in the business conditions
Speaker 4: in Venezuela, and if several are already on the ground,
Speaker 4: they're going to ramp up investments, I mean immediately in
Speaker 4: the next few weeks.
Speaker 3: So yeah, can we achieve.
Speaker 4: One hundred billion dollars investment over the next ten years?
Speaker 4: I think absolutely. But what we're one week in right
Speaker 4: now President Trump's leadership. I think we've had a tremendous
Speaker 4: week of progress transformation in Venezuela and excited to see
Speaker 4: what comes in the weeks and months ahead.
Speaker 5: Well, mister Secretary, can you outline any of the agreements
Speaker 5: that the administration was able to ink today because President
Speaker 5: Trump said that there was going to be a few
Speaker 5: deals made in that room.
Speaker 4: Oh well, look, we have Chevron on the ground in
Speaker 4: the country right now, largest oil producer in Venezuela right now.
Speaker 4: I think with some of the moves that we can
Speaker 4: do with them, which is just licensing them to move
Speaker 4: ahead with projects they've already lined up. They mentioned the
Speaker 4: ability to grow their production by fifty percent in the
Speaker 4: next eighteen to twenty four months. This is the largest
Speaker 4: producer in Venezuela.
Speaker 3: That's tremendous.
Speaker 2: Oh, we know, they've been there for about one hundred years.
Speaker 2: I think, as the President said, the question is who
Speaker 2: will join them? Mister secretary, And I'm wondering when it
Speaker 2: comes to incentives and security guarantees, what you can tell us.
Speaker 2: You heard from the CEO of Exxon Mobile, Darren Woods,
Speaker 2: describing his assets being seized twice. He referred to Venezuela
Speaker 2: as uninvestable. When you talk about security guarantees, is that
Speaker 2: a military security guarantee or would there be private security
Speaker 2: contractors involved.
Speaker 4: Look, we don't know the details of that stuff yet,
Speaker 4: but what we want to do is put the incentives
Speaker 4: in place to transform the situation on the ground in Venezuela.
Speaker 4: I'm sure you've seen the giant a rally saying libre Venezuela.
Speaker 4: This is a government that for twenty five years has
Speaker 4: just crushed people's rights, crushed their property, made it unsafe,
Speaker 4: essentially a large narco drug, gun and human running operation.
Speaker 4: So lots of room for improvement. But I'm quite optimistic.
Speaker 4: We're going to have to see in the coming weeks
Speaker 4: how things evolve. But with President Trump's leadership with the
Speaker 4: United States, his partnership, can we make a pivot and
Speaker 4: get Venezuela going in the right direction?
Speaker 3: Absolutely?
Speaker 4: And the key partners to watch are the ones that
Speaker 4: are already there.
Speaker 3: How do their operations.
Speaker 4: Change in the next few weeks, in the next few
Speaker 4: months for the new for the re entrance like excell
Speaker 4: And yet that's going to be a longer term process
Speaker 4: of course.
Speaker 2: Okay, and I hear your optimism, Secretary, But just to understand,
Speaker 2: you haven't gotten to the point on the ground where
Speaker 2: you can determine what security apparatus would be necessary. Is
Speaker 2: that safe to say?
Speaker 4: That's safe to say in seven days we don't have
Speaker 4: the full on the ground assessment done yet.
Speaker 5: Has the administration ruled out putting the US military on
Speaker 5: the ground as a security guarantee.
Speaker 4: President Trump of course never rules out options, but that
Speaker 4: is definitely not in the plans.
Speaker 3: That is not the plan.
Speaker 4: The plan is to use the military power that's manning
Speaker 4: the blockade of the oil so we can stop the
Speaker 4: criminals and stop our adversaries from taking oil out of
Speaker 4: Venezuela and have a more orderly, safe process.
Speaker 3: What's going on.
Speaker 4: But the plan today and I think very likely, will
Speaker 4: not involve US military operations on the ground in Venezuela.
Speaker 4: This is a partnership with some incentives based on a
Speaker 4: blockade and a partnership between the interim authorities in Venezuela
Speaker 4: and the United States government and in oil and gas
Speaker 4: companies from America and.
Speaker 3: Around the world.
Speaker 2: There's some questions Secretary right about the role that World
Speaker 2: Bank money might play, knowing that in many cases there
Speaker 2: was money seized. World Bank ruled that Venezuela owed over
Speaker 2: eight billion dollars to Conico. Phillips Exon Mobil says it
Speaker 2: lost more than sixteen billion dollars. Chevron has its own number.
Speaker 2: Is the administration working with the World Bank to unlock
Speaker 2: that money to help fund this investment.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Look, the Venezuelan government has been horrible to the businesses
Speaker 4: that have been there and the people in Venezuela. So
Speaker 4: there's a lot of money that's owed, there's a lot
Speaker 4: of redress that's needed to have happened. But in the
Speaker 4: short term, the goal is to flund is to flow
Speaker 4: funds to the interim authorities in Venezuela, stop the collapse
Speaker 4: of the local currency, the boulevard, and get the economy
Speaker 4: stabilized and then moving in a positive direction. We have
Speaker 4: short term issues that are today much more urgent than
Speaker 4: ultimately resolving the claims that many companies have against the
Speaker 4: Venezuelan government. But progress are free, prosperous. Venezuela can resolve
Speaker 4: those debts and those problems over time. The goal is
Speaker 4: to get from freefall it's been in for the last
Speaker 4: few years and get it go in the other direction.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 5: Relatedly, the Interior Secretary Doug Bergham told Bloomberg Television earlier
Speaker 5: today that the US is unlikely to provide financial support.
Speaker 5: That appear to be echoed by the President today. Can
Speaker 5: you confirm any financial incentives offered to these companies to
Speaker 5: go into Venezuela.
Speaker 4: Now they were not, you know, oil and gasping that
Speaker 4: you had state control in Venezuela and it took thriving
Speaker 4: oil industry and just crushed it. What we want is capitalist,
Speaker 4: free market forces a business, private enterprise to go in
Speaker 4: and do what business does, which is figure out how
Speaker 4: to operate in all different kinds of environments, generate positive
Speaker 4: cash flow, employ Venezuelans, improve the social conditions, and then
Speaker 4: things spiral up. We've had twenty years of things spiraling down.
Speaker 4: We're going to see him spiral up. But no, we
Speaker 4: don't need US government money to incent companies to go
Speaker 4: down to Venezuela. They're going to get down there to
Speaker 4: make money for their shareholders, to help the United States,
Speaker 4: and to improve the lives of Venezuelans.
Speaker 2: We heard what the President said earlier, Secretary that you're
Speaker 2: the best oil man in the world. I'm wondering would
Speaker 2: you be comfortable going to Venezuela yourself to get the
Speaker 2: lay of the land. Do you plan to go?
Speaker 4: Oh, I'm sure I will be going to Venezuela before
Speaker 4: too long.
Speaker 5: Absolutely, a mister Secretary, the President said that the companies
Speaker 5: would be dealing directly with the US.
Speaker 3: I believe he.
Speaker 5: Said that the US doesn't want the companies dealing at
Speaker 5: all with Venezuela. Is that true? How is this actually
Speaker 5: going to work moving forward? And can you outline what
Speaker 5: the current communications look like between the US and the
Speaker 5: interim Venezuelan government when it comes to reviving production in
Speaker 5: the country.
Speaker 3: Yeah, again, remember where we are.
Speaker 4: We are only one week into this transformation, So yeah,
Speaker 4: only a few of us in the United States government
Speaker 4: are dealing with a few people that are in the
Speaker 4: interim authorities in Venezuela right now. So the whole framework
Speaker 4: of communication and how things are going to work, that's
Speaker 4: going to evolve over time. Right now, we're in emergency mode.
Speaker 4: We're in stabilizing the country, stabilizing the economy, dealing with
Speaker 4: a few.
Speaker 3: People, and all of that will unfold with time. But
Speaker 3: we're one week in.
Speaker 2: Is the acting President Delsia Rodriguez on board with the
Speaker 2: President's plan as you understand it? And Energy Secretary, have
Speaker 2: you spoken with her yourself?
Speaker 4: I have not spoken with Delsey directly myself yet, but
Speaker 4: my colleague from the State Department has and so, look,
Speaker 4: we're in communication, A few of us are in communication
Speaker 4: with a team of people down there, and I would
Speaker 4: say incentives are very aligned. They want a better Venezuela,
Speaker 4: They want to stop a free fall of their economy.
Speaker 4: They want to work with the United States to grow
Speaker 4: the revenues that flow into the country. If you sell
Speaker 4: more oil, you sell it at a higher price. Everyone
Speaker 4: wins by that. I would say all of our interactions
Speaker 4: so far have been highly constructive.
Speaker 5: What was the mood in the room today, mister Secretary?
Speaker 5: And were there any assurances made that US oil policy
Speaker 5: won't shift when it comes to Venezuela, Because our understanding
Speaker 5: is this is a decades long project that could be underway.
Speaker 5: What is there to say that the incentive and the
Speaker 5: priority would be different under a different administration. Did you
Speaker 5: have any sort of conversations like that with these companies?
Speaker 4: Oh? Yes, Look, the bigger companies, they operate in countries
Speaker 4: all around the world. You know, Venezuela is certainly not
Speaker 4: the only country that's that's gone through phases of very
Speaker 4: poor governance. Heck, we had we had four years of
Speaker 4: the Biden administration where he came in guaranteeing he would
Speaker 4: end the oil and gas industry.
Speaker 3: That was our own government that pledgs that.
Speaker 4: Now, it didn't seize assets, but it sure talked like
Speaker 4: it was going to. So hostile government environments are not
Speaker 4: they're not new to oil and gas companies. I think
Speaker 4: that's sad, that's unfortunate, but so that they're realistic people.
Speaker 4: They understand there's trade offs and challenges everywhere. But again,
Speaker 4: even in this free fall, we've got several companies operating today.
Speaker 3: They're immediately feeling that business.
Speaker 4: Conditions are about to get better for them and they're
Speaker 4: going to ramp up their investments. If you're not in
Speaker 4: the country yet, of course you're going to be a
Speaker 4: little bit more cautious. But we're going to have teams
Speaker 4: on the ground investigating, following what's happening with production and
Speaker 4: the facilities, seeing what the safety and security situation is
Speaker 4: like and how that progresses. But I have no doubt
Speaker 4: at all we will see massive increases in investment from
Speaker 4: many companies into the oil and gas industry in Venezuela,
Speaker 4: and the production profile will reflect that. We'll see growing
Speaker 4: production later this year, hopefully by this summer, and we'll
Speaker 4: see better economic conditions and better quality lives for.
Speaker 3: The people in Venezuela.
Speaker 4: All those are critical for the US objectives to end
Speaker 4: criminality and the exporting of problems to the American people,
Speaker 4: and the restrictions on oil production that just make gasoline
Speaker 4: and diesel and plane travel more expensive for Americans, increase
Speaker 4: American security, and increase security in Venezuela. This is a
Speaker 4: big challenge, and without a bold president like President Trump,
Speaker 4: we wouldn't be where we are today.
Speaker 3: We'd just be still.
Speaker 4: Watching a twenty five year slide into oblivion, Venezuela becoming
Speaker 4: a failed state.
Speaker 3: We don't want to see that happen.
Speaker 2: Well, just lastly, and we'll let you go in from
Speaker 2: the rain, Secretary, I just wonder how this whole story camelides,
Speaker 2: if at all, with the new demand to revive our
Speaker 2: nuclear sector. And we saw a big example of it
Speaker 2: today with Meta cutting a series of deals with three
Speaker 2: nuclear providers, including one you used to be on the
Speaker 2: board at Akloh. And we saw quite a response today
Speaker 2: as the data center demand continues here. If this glut
Speaker 2: of oil is about to come on the market, does
Speaker 2: that slow the haste to authorize new nuclear plants?
Speaker 4: No, not at all, Not at all the world in
Speaker 4: a billion people live a lifestyle like you and I do,
Speaker 4: and seven billion people want to live a lifestyle like
Speaker 4: you and I. The world needs massively more energy of
Speaker 4: all different kinds. In the United States, only in Hawaii
Speaker 4: and New England because of crazy policies. Do we ever
Speaker 4: use oil to generate electricity.
Speaker 3: It's used for.
Speaker 4: Different things that nuclear plants that we're going to build
Speaker 4: right now, they're going to generate electricity that's not even
Speaker 4: in the same energy realm of oil.
Speaker 3: But we need more oil. We need more.
Speaker 4: Natural gas, we need more nuclear power, we need more geothermal.
Speaker 4: We need more energy to better people's lives, lower costs
Speaker 4: in our country, and grow economic opportunities for Americans. This
Speaker 4: is a pro energy, pro America, pro jobs president, and
Speaker 4: to me that's very refreshing. But no, nuclear and oil
Speaker 4: are not competitive. We want them both
Speaker 5: To thrive, all right, US Energy Secretary Christopher Right, mister Secretary,
Speaker 5: thank you so much for joining us here on Bloomberg