Secretary Wright Joins Fox News Sunday with Shannon Bream – September 6, 2026

Joining us now, Energy Secretary Chris Wright. Welcome back to Fox News Sunday. Thanks for having me, Shannon. Okay, so let's talk about the traffic through the strait. There are skeptics about the numbers that are coming from you, coming from the administration. Fortune has this, it appears that Secretary Wright is adding up transfers over multiple days into a single day, said Samir Mondani, co-founder of TankerTrackers.com. He jokingly calls it math magics. So why is there a dispute about the data on what's actually getting through the strait at this point? It's funny to read or hear that stuff. We know every ship, the name of the ship, what it's carrying, you know, in these convoys we're pushing. So we're not guessing, we're not doing any crazy math, we're just reporting exactly what's going through the southern route through the Strait of Hormuz. So we did indeed get just under 18 million barrels of crude in a 24-hour period earlier last week. And the running average right now is over 9 million barrels a day, just on the waterborne routes. There's also the pipeline routes that are taking another four or five. So these are just the facts, these are the numbers, they're not an opinion, there's no math magic. So maybe it's frustrating to the commercial organizations that they just don't have the insight or they don't have the data on what's actually happening. But why would we be lying? Well, you know, your critics will say that you want to portray the situation is better in the strait than it is, but it's true that you would have data that a lot of these organizations wouldn't. They say the proof will be in the pudding as we see the ripple through the markets. But the New York Times and others, they're actually giving you guys credit saying, listen, the traffic has increased through there. But they say a lot of that has to do with the use of the U.S. military. Obviously, we believe in our men and women and see the hard work they're doing there. But is it sustainable in the long term to have the U.S. military be the guardian of that area? What about other partners in the region in the long term outlook? Yes. So the U.S. military has two major missions there. One is to stop the flow of any Iranian oil or oil products to be exported from the Gulf. We are putting maximum economic pressure on Iran and isolating them. At the same time that we're doing that, they are trying to wage economic terrorism against the rest of the world by trying to impede the flow of traffic. And they're doing everything they can to stand in our way. So, yes, it is the U.S. Navy that's assuring that this flow comes out. We wish Iran would stop doing what they're doing, but we are degrading their capacities to do that. And we are learning and getting better and better at defending from their attacks. So this is a losing game for Iran. We wish it would come to an end tomorrow. The Iranian regime, either the regime is going to change or this regime is going to change its policy. One of those two things is going to happen. So there are others in the region and beyond, though, that you anticipate will come alongside other countries that will lend their resources as well. So this isn't solely or at least primarily on the shoulders of the U.S. military. Yes. Many other nations have reached out to us. They want to work with us. They want to be helpful. But there's simply no other country on earth that has nearly the military capacity of the United States. So in this conflict, where it's still a little bit hot, it's dominated by the United States right now. The other military assets involved are our friends and allies in the region. But to get those from outside of the region, I hope that soon. I hope that soon. OK, let's talk about Venezuela. You were down there for this deal that will give us some level of access, restarting infrastructure and rebuilding down there with their oil output. A lot of controversy about people who say we're taking Venezuela's oil essentially at gunpoint. I'm talking about the capture of Nicolas Maduro and Congressman Chris Christomorthy. He is one who sent a letter over to the president because he wants to know this. He's asking whether the president, his family, you know, companies they're associated with, political donors, allies, if there are those in business with the president or others that will have some direct benefit from this deal. Can you give us an answer with some clarity on that today? Oh, you bet. Look, this is one of those deals, which is what often is the case with business deals. It is just a huge win for both sides. I'm down in Venezuela. The people in the streets of Venezuela are so thrilled to see America there. Americans, there is a country for 25 years with a communist dictatorship. Now it had a free press. We've had hundreds of political prisoners released. We want to get every last one of them released. You know that the sun is shining again in Venezuela. Their oil exports have grown 50 percent. Their total national production is up 25 percent. It'll likely be doubled by the end of next year when it was pre U.S. intervention. So there's so much positive there. And it's American businesses, you know, that are that are bringing billions of dollars to invest in the country for their own economic benefit to bring more energy and lower prices to the United States. But it also transforms the quality of life and peace and stability in Venezuela itself. This is a home run. These senators saying we're stealing their oil at gunpoint. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, the more oil that's produced in Venezuela, including with the deal with the U.S. government, the more the more royalties and tax revenues go to the Venezuelan government and the Venezuelan people. If you have resources deep underground and they've been sitting there for millions a year, years, they don't bring any benefit. They only bring benefit when capital and they're extracted, brought to the surface, refined and made to better the lives of Venezuelans, Americans and the whole Western hemisphere. OK, so to those who are worried about this, because they listen, having watched oil production and the nationalization and what has happened there in the past with the industry, of course, they're going to be real hesitations about companies wanting to invest there. We did hear the announcement from Chevron this week. But National Review says this Venezuela has already been nationalized twice. What makes anyone so confident it won't happen a third time? They say this arrangement will undoubtedly be contested in the future years, perhaps by another Chavista type. And when that happens, Trump will no longer be in office. Do you expect President Newsom or President Harris to send in Delta Force? So what about the fact that this is being negotiated under this president, but a future president may not want to enforce this in the way that President Trump would? Well, look at the other private companies that are investing billions of dollars. These are multi year, multi decade investments. Clearly, they are making the assessment that the future risk profile is dramatically different than it was before. Anything's possible in the future. But for any different government of Venezuela, these deals are home runs. They're going to bring more tax revenues, more royalty revenues, more jobs, more opportunity to Venezuelans. And they're going to bring more oil to the world, which it desperately needs right now. And even the possibility of more refining capacity. Venezuela has old rundown refiners. You're going to see American companies and international companies go down and help invest in those as well. G.E. Vernova is down there to help repair their electrical grid. Like the Trump administration's about adding energy and bringing more commerce to the United States, to Venezuela and to the world as a whole. And this, Shannon, this is desperately needed after the Biden administration and Obama administrations who had a war on fossil fuels. Somehow they thought they were going to get rid of them. The world could work without them. All they did was crimp the supply and drive the prices up. We have years worth of damage and underinvestment that we are aggressively reversing to the enormous benefit to future generations of Americans. Well, we know it'll take some time there in Venezuela and we'll see what future administrations think about how this plays out. In the meantime, we'd love to talk to you about data centers and so many other things. So, Mr. Secretary, please come back. Thanks so much, Shannon. I'll do that. Appreciate your time. All right, coming up.