US energy secretary to visit Venezuela to discuss PDVSA leadership — report

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright plans to visit Venezuela soon to “start the dialogue” with officials on the future leadership of Venezuelan oil company PDVSA, Politico reported on Monday.

Wright, who plans to visit some of the nation’s oilfields, told Politico: “PDVSA was a highly professional, technically competent oil and gas company 30 years ago, and it hasn’t been one for quite some time.”

He intended to improve the management of the state-run oil company which has emerged as an obstacle in the Trump administration’s efforts to push international oil companies to invest in the country, the report said.

In December, due to quality issues with the oil and U.S. sanctions, state oil company PDVSA had been forced to slash prices, with the discount to Brent benchmark crude about double year-ago levels.

He planned to meet with acting President Delcy Rodríguez during his time there and expected the country to hold democratic elections in the next 18 to 24 months, Politico said.

-Reporting by Preetika Parashuraman in Bengaluru; Editing by Alex Richardson/Reuters