00:00Part of this, the 30 to 50 million barrels of oil, how exactly is that going to work?
00:06You're getting it out of Venezuela into the United States?
00:08Yes, that's exactly right.
00:10So as you know, Ed, as the president announced last night, this was the sanctioned oil
00:14that was basically just sitting in barrels, sitting on ships because of the effective
00:18quarantine of the United States of America.
00:20And the interim authorities have agreed to release that oil to the United States,
00:24so it will be arriving here at home very soon.
00:27The United States government has already begun marketing Venezuelan crude oil in the global
00:31marketplace for the benefit of the United States, engage the world's leading commodity marketers,
00:37key banks to execute and provide financial support for these crude oil and crude product sales.
00:43All proceeds from the sale of Venezuelan crude oil and products will first settle in U.S.
00:48controlled accounts at globally recognized banks to guarantee the legitimacy and integrity
00:52of the ultimate distribution of proceeds.
00:55And those funds will be dispersed for the benefit of the American people and the Venezuelan people
01:00at the discretion of the United States government.
01:03It sounds like it requires a lot of private sector engagement and agreement from the oil industry
01:09and the banking industry.
01:10Do you have that yet?
01:11There's a lot of private sector engagement that's happening right now.
01:13As you know, Secretary Wright, our energy secretary, who's heading up this big project,
01:17is in Florida today meeting with some of these oil executives.
01:21And as we confirmed earlier, they will also be at the White House later this week.
01:24So they are absolutely eager to invest.
01:26They're eager about these opportunities.
01:29And Secretary Wright is a very well-knowledgeable guy when it comes to oil and energy,
01:34and he's the perfect man for the job.
01:35So just to follow up on the oil, 30 to 50 million barrels is an initial tronch, if you will,
01:45and then what happens after that?
01:48I won't get ahead of the plans that the president and his team are currently speaking with the
01:53interim authorities about.
01:54But rest assured, there is a long-term plan here.
01:57Secretary Rubio and the entire team are working diligently on it, and this is just sort of the
02:01first action that you all are seeing.
02:02So in order to get these oil companies to invest billions in Venezuela, how will the
02:09U.S. reassure that their workers will be safe in Venezuela?
02:13Could there be troops involved?
02:14At this point in time, as you know, there are no troops on the ground in Venezuela.
02:18The president, of course, reserves the right to use the United States military if necessary.
02:22It's not something he wants to do.
02:24Diplomacy is always the first option, as you saw.
02:26He tried that with Nicolas Maduro, but unfortunately, he was an illegitimate dictator and an unserious person.
02:32And so President Trump authorized this law enforcement operation, and now Nicolas Maduro is
02:37sitting in a prison cell in New York.
02:38So certainly the president is going to do what's in the best interest of the American
02:42people, and that includes workers from our energy and oil industry as well.
02:46With that meeting tomorrow, what is the message the president is going to give to the oil
02:49executives, and what does he want to hear?
02:51Well, the meeting is on Friday, and it's just a meeting to discuss, obviously, the immense
02:56opportunity that is before these oil companies right now.
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