United States Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Wednesday said that the country will control the sales of sanctioned Venezuelan oil “indefinitely”, The New York Times reported.

The statement came a day after US President Donald Trump announced that his country will get up to 50 million barrels of oil from Venezuela.

On Saturday, the US military abducted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores in an overnight operation.

The US has accused Maduro of narco terrorism and drug trafficking, among other crimes – allegations that the Venezuelan government rejects. Caracas has described the US government’s actions as “military aggression” and has demanded that Maduro and Flores be immediately released.

Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world, but is not among the top 10 producers.

Since 2019, the South American country’s oil production and export have been sharply restricted after Trump, in his first term as US president, imposed sanctions. The curbs intensified in December, after Trump ordered a blockade of sanctioned oil vessels heading to and leaving Venezuela.

In this backdrop, Wright was quoted as saying by The New York Times on Wednesday at a conference: “Going forward we will sell the production that comes out of Venezuela into the marketplace.”

The official further said that the US needed to have “leverage and control of those oil sales to drive the changes that simply must happen in Venezuela”, the BBC reported. It was not clear what percentage of the revenue from the sale the US would share with Venezuela.

Trump said on Wednesday that Venezuela would purchase “only American made products” with the money the country receives from a “new oil deal”.

This would be “wise choice and a very good deal for the people of Venezuela and the United States”, he said.

"Venezuela is going to be purchasing ONLY American Made Products, with the money they receive from our new Oil Deal... A wise choice, and a very good thing for the people of Venezuela, and the United States." - President Donald J. Trump 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/0pvM6QVa0L

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 7, 2026

Venezuela’s state oil company said on Wednesday that negotiations were underway with the US government, but did not say that a deal is in place, according to The New York Times.

The US president had said in December that his country wanted to regain oil that he claimed had been stolen by Venezuela. It was unclear what oil Trump had been referring to, as Venezuela had nationalised its oil and gas industry in the 1970s.

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