UPDATE 3-US energy secretary meets Venezuela's president as they face Herculean task of oil recovery

The authorization follows previous licenses broadly allowing oil exports and fuel imports. Wright's trip follows the capture of President Nicolas Maduro by U.S. forces in early January, a $2 billion oil supply deal agreed to by the U.S. and Venezuela shortly after, and a $100 billion reconstruction plan for the country's energy industry promoted ⁠by President ​Donald Trump.

‌U.S. ​Secretary of Energy Chris Wright held meetings with top officials and executives in Venezuela on Wednesday as part of the highest-level U.S. visit focused on energy policy in nearly three decades, with the promise of a new era of economic partnership. Wright, who landed in Caracas in the morning, said the U.S. is prepared to help boost oil, gas ‌and power output in the country, following talks with interim President and Oil Minister Delcy Rodriguez at the Miraflores presidential palace.

"This year, we can drive a dramatic increase in Venezuelan oil production, in Venezuelan natural gas production and Venezuelan electricity production," Wright said during a televised briefing after the meeting. The boost would lead to more job opportunities, higher wages and quality of life for Venezuelans, while providing benefits for the U.S. and the Western Hemisphere, Wright said, adding that the U.S. wants to "set ‌the Venezuelan people and the economy free."

Wright also is expected to meet executives from companies including Chevron and Spain's Repsol this week. He is expected to stay through Friday and meet with local consumer goods companies before visiting ‌Petropiar, the largest oil project Chevron and state energy company PDVSA operate, in Venezuela's main oil region, the Orinoco Belt, sources familiar with the preparations said. On Tuesday, the U.S. issued a new general license to facilitate the exploration and production of oil and gas in Venezuela. The authorization follows previous licenses broadly allowing oil exports and fuel imports.

Wright's trip follows the capture of President Nicolas Maduro by U.S. forces in early January, a $2 billion oil supply deal agreed to by the U.S. and Venezuela shortly after, and a $100 billion reconstruction plan for the country's energy industry promoted ⁠by President ​Donald Trump. Rodriguez said she hopes the relationship between Caracas and Washington ⁠progresses "without obstacles."

The U.S. embassy in Caracas, which began reopening in late January, said Wright's visit would be key to advancing Trump's vision for Venezuela. "The U.S. private sector will be essential to boost the oil sector, modernize the electric grid, and unlock Venezuela's enormous potential," Charge d'Affaires Laura ⁠Dogu wrote in a post on X. She also attended the meeting in Miraflores.

The last U.S. energy secretary to travel to Venezuela was Bill Richardson, who made several trips between 1998 and 2001 under former President Bill Clinton. Visits to Caracas by high-ranking U.S. ​officials have been virtually nonexistent since, as the bilateral relationship with former President Hugo Chavez and then Maduro was strained. WHAT WRIGHT WILL FIND IN VENEZUELA

Wright and Rodriguez face the Herculean task of organizing the recovery ⁠of Venezuela's oil industry after decades of underinvestment, mismanagement and U.S. sanctions, while putting U.S. investors at the front of the line. Wright's visit, taking place even as Venezuela's political context remains volatile, reflects a longer-term U.S. geostrategic interest in Venezuelan oil as Washington seeks to reshape global energy markets while pressuring ⁠Russia, ​according to Thomas O'Donnell, an analyst who specializes in energy geopolitics.

The Trump administration has moved beyond detaching Venezuela from Russian and Chinese influence to pursuing a "doctrine of American energy dominance" that could provide the U.S. capacity to eventually take Russian oil offline if geopolitically required, he said. "This is an active geostrategic, geo-economic plan to use American oil abundance and cooperation with the Saudis and the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf States and Venezuela and Guyana to reshape ⁠the global oil market," he added. Venezuela's National Assembly last month approved a sweeping reform to the country's primary oil law, which grants operational and financial autonomy to foreign producers as a first step to encourage investment.

Washington continues ⁠working on licenses to allow Venezuelan companies to buy products, invest, ⁠boost oil production, create new jobs and grow export revenue, Wright said on Wednesday. Trump's broader agenda is focused on peace, commerce and trade, "not conflict, not military action," he added. Senator John Hickenlooper, a Democrat from energy-producing Colorado, told reporters on Tuesday after a classified briefing by Wright that "the whole thing ... is like doing an impossibly difficult high dive, ‌or an impossibly difficult freestyle skiing flip ‌maneuver. All we can do is hope that it succeeds."

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)