US Energy Secretary Chris Wright landed in Venezuela to assess progress on revamping the country’s oil industry following the ouster of former President Nicolás Maduro. The first steps are underway, including an overhaul of Venezuelan law to curb state-owned PDVSA’s control, and the issuance on Tuesday of a license from the US Treasury Department to authorize foreign companies to import drilling equipment.
But in general, as my colleagues Eleanor Mueller and Shelby Talcott reported, the administration’s strategy for converting its successful arrest of Maduro into a longer-term revitalization of Venezuela’s economy is increasingly opaque. There are no signs of a second sale of Venezuelan oil. “Obviously, the business community would have to be brain-dead to make major capital investments without some certainty,” Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., told Semafor.
