CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) — United States (US) Energy Secretary Chris Wright was in Venezuela on Wednesday for talks with acting president Delcy Rodriguez and oil industry executives on harnessing the country’s vast reserves of crude.

Wright is the highest-ranking official in President Donald Trump’s administration to travel to Venezuela since US special forces seized and overthrew longtime socialist leader Nicolas Maduro on January 3.

Trump has backed Maduro’s former deputy Rodriguez as his interim successor on condition she abides by Washington’s demands, including granting the United States access to Venezuelan oil and easing state repression.

Welcoming Wright to Venezuela, the US embassy wrote on X: “Your visit is key to advancing @POTUS’s (Trump’s) vision of a prosperous Venezuela.”

It added: “the US private sector will be essential to boost the oil sector, modernise the electric grid, and unlock Venezuela’s enormous potential.”

A photo posted by the embassy showed Wright on the tarmac at Maiquetia International Airport, which serves the capital Caracas, accompanied by the new US charge d’affaires in Venezuela, Laura Dogu.

The US Department of Energy said Wright would visit Venezuelan oil fields on his trip, which seeks to “advance President Trump’s mission to restore prosperity, safety, and security for Venezuela, the United States, and the entire Western Hemisphere.”

Venezuela, once a major crude supplier to the Untied States, has the world’s largest proven reserves with more than 303 billion barrels, according to global oil cartel OPEC.

This amounts to about a fifth of the world’s oil reserves.

But in 2024, the South American country produced only about one per cent of the world’s total crude output, said OPEC, its industry left haggard by years of underinvestment, mismanagement and US sanctions.

Washington eased sanctions on Venezuelan oil last month after Rodriguez’s administration passed a law throwing the state-run sector open to private investment.

Trump wants US oil majors to rapidly rebuild the sector and boost output by millions of barrels per day.

Trump has said the United States and Caracas would share oil profits.

The challenge now is to persuade oil companies to invest in Venezuela despite persisting political instability, security concerns, and the need for heavy investment to restore production capacity.

The country produced 1.2 million oil barrels per day in 2025 — up from a historic low of about 360,000 in 2020 — but still far from the 3.0 million bpd it was pumping 25 years ago.