By Juan Forero and Ryan Dubé

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Energy Secretary Chris Wright said that "enormous progress" is being made with Venezuela's regime in the transformation of its decrepit oil industry, but that the objective is an end to sanctions and a transition toward democracy.

"Boy, if things go in a positive direction, that's the goal," Wright told a small group of foreign reporters after meeting with Venezuela's interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, on Wednesday. "That's the goal is to have a representative government and free trade and free commerce."

Wright is the highest-ranking Trump administration official to arrive in Caracas since American commandos decapitated the regime by snatching strongman Nicolás Maduro and his wife on Jan. 3. That left Rodríguez, Maduro's vice president, as the de facto head of state, but a leader submissive to the Trump administration, which has pressed for a better investment climate to lure foreign oil companies and jack up production.

After a meeting at the presidential palace, Rodríguez spoke of a "productive association" that could advance bilateral relations. Wright referred to the "tremendous opportunities" in the future. They both smiled, and Wright said in Spanish: "Que viva Venezuela y viva los Estados Unidos."

At the same time, the day's developments reflected the head-spinning effort in which Washington is driving the effort to repair and vastly improve the oil industry in another country -- even though the Trump administration still considers the Venezuelan regime as illegitimate because of its theft of elections and brutality.

"You're right, we do not recognize the current government of Venezuela," Wright said in response to a question by The Wall Street Journal. "And most countries of the world do not."

He stressed that after just a few weeks, "We're early on in a transition period." Asked if Rodríguez is open to elections in a year and a half or so, Wright said, "I think so. She's well aware of that.... I think she recognizes that's a necessary condition. We have a plan. She knows the plan."

Despite his positive outlook, the former energy company executive said the country had a long way to go.

"We are five weeks in, you know," said Wright, who on Thursday is set to visit oil fields. "We've still got political prisoners in jail here. We've still got all sorts of issues.... You've still got relations here with China, with Russia, with Iran."

Trump has talked up the prospect of more than $100 billion in foreign investment to boost production from Venezuela's oil-rich regions of Lake Maracaibo in the west and the Orinoco Belt in the east. Translating that ambition into a reality faces formidable legal, financial and technical challenges. Years of decay have left oil fields, pipelines and refineries in disrepair, with investors wary of sinking large sums and signing deals with a government led by Rodríguez that is widely viewed as illegitimate.

"Nobody in their right mind would sink billions of dollars in oil investment in the Orinoco Belt until they figure out if this is a long-term thing," said Francisco Monaldi, a Venezuelan who directs the Latin America energy program at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy.

Producing more than 3 million barrels of crude a day in the 1990s, Venezuela is now producing about 900,000 daily, less than 1% of world oil production.

The opening of Venezuela's oil industry to foreign investors could raise crude production in the next couple of years by about 50% to about 1.4 million barrels a day, according to energy analysts and former Venezuelan oil executives. This year Venezuela's oil revenue should increase 30% to $10 billion, said Asdrúbal Oliveros, an economist in Caracas.

Increasing production to the levels seen before Chávez took office in 1999 will require tens of billions of dollars in investments by foreign companies that are still unlikely to put significant money into Venezuela. Ronal Rodríguez of the Venezuelan Observatory at the University of Rosario in Colombia estimated that it could take $250 billion and 15 years of work to get to those levels.

Both Venezuela and the U.S. have been looking to entice companies back to the country. Last month, Venezuela's National Assembly changed the oil law to allow private companies to operate in an industry that has been under tight state control for the past 25 years. The new legislation allows for independent arbitration and eliminates some taxes. Companies could potentially see a sharp drop in royalty payments.

The U.S. Treasury Department has since eased sanctions on Petróleos de Venezuela SA, the state oil company known as PdVSA, issuing a general license allowing American companies to export and sell Venezuelan crude. It also allowed American companies to sell diluents to Venezuela, which are needed to pump the country's heavy oil.

On Tuesday, the Treasury issued a new general license that permits American companies to supply Venezuela with equipment and technology needed to pump crude. The license lets U.S. oil-field services companies like Halliburton and SLB work in the country.

The U.S. is still expected in the near future to offer broader licenses allowing more American oil companies to invest and drill in Venezuela.

Meanwhile, some regime officials have begun to talk like the capitalists they once derided until the U.S. took out Maduro.

"That oil under the ground doesn't help anyone," Jorge Rodríguez, who heads the National Assembly and is the interim president's brother, said in a speech to ruling-party members. "We have the biggest reserves but how's that feed the people? I prefer to have the fifth-, sixth- or seventh-biggest reserves but to be the biggest producer."

Luis Pacheco, a former senior official at PdVSA, said the recent opening up of Venezuela will likely attract small companies aiming to make money fast.

"It will attract the wildcatters, people who think they can make a quick buck in a very short period of time by coming in and reactivating a number of wells, getting production out, and investing very little money and getting a return from that," he said.

But for now, Pacheco isn't expecting large oil companies to make new, multibillion-dollar investments needed to boost output.

"I don't think it will reactivate the industry at least in the vision that Trump has outlined," he said. "To do that you need real money, real companies to stay for a longer amount of time."

Write to Juan Forero at juan.forero@wsj.com and Ryan Dubé at ryan.dube@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 11, 2026 21:08 ET (02:08 GMT)

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