Doocy: Why Drill in Venezuela but Not Here? Kirby: '9,000 Permits' Unused (November 28, 2022)

Three weeks after President Joe Biden told a heckler “No more drilling,” his administration cleared an American oil company to drill in socialist Venezuela. Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked the obvious question. “Why is it that President Biden would rather let U.S. companies drill for oil in Venezuela than here in the U.S.?” [1][2]

“That’s not an accurate take on the President’s view,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby answered. “The President has issued 9,000 permits for drilling on U.S. federal lands, Peter; 9,000 of them are being unused” [1].

That number was wrong. Three months later, the Bureau of Land Management revised it “down from an estimated 9,000 to less than 6,700,” Fox News reported [3].

The video above shows the exchange from the Nov. 28, 2022, White House briefing. Quotes are from the official transcript published by the American Presidency Project [1].

”No More Drilling”

Doocy quoted the president back to Kirby. “Earlier this month, he said, ‘No more drilling. There is no more drilling,’” he said [1].

Biden had said it to a heckler at a Nov. 6, 2022, rally in Bronxville, New York. “No more drilling. There is no more drilling. I haven’t formed any new drilling,” Biden said. The heckler shot back: “You released 5 more years of offshore drilling.” “That was before I was President,” Biden said [4].

Two days before Doocy’s question, the Treasury Department had issued Venezuela General License 41, “authorizing Chevron Corporation to resume limited natural resource extraction operations in Venezuela” [5].

”Plenty of Opportunities”

Kirby said the move changed nothing at home. “There are plenty of opportunities for oil and gas companies to drill here in the United States. Now, I’ll let Chevron speak for this particular issue of sanctions relief, but our expectation is it won’t be a lot of oil coming out of there,” he said [1].

“Does the President think there’s some benefit to the climate to drill oil in Venezuela and not here?” Doocy asked. “No, it has nothing to do with a benefit to the climate, Peter,” Kirby said. “Again, there are 9,000 unused permits here in the United States on federal land that oil and gas companies can and should take advantage of. Nine thousand. And we’re talking about one there in Venezuela” [1].

”Questionable”

Critics pushed back the next day. “They had defunded the oil and gas industry from day one through executive orders, through the Treasury Department, through pushing environment, social governance, ESG,” Marc Morano, publisher of ClimateDepot.com, said on “Fox & Friends First” [2].

A permit means little, he argued, if projects “get tied up for years and years and years, and the funding is questionable, and of course, the future permits are questionable, so that is just a red herring argument” [2].

The administration called its move humanitarian. The license, Treasury said, came after the Maduro regime and the opposition announced “the resumption of talks in Mexico City” and reflected policy “to provide targeted sanctions relief based on concrete steps that alleviate the suffering of the Venezuelan people and support the restoration of democracy” [5].

It “prevents PdVSA from receiving profits from the oil sales by Chevron,” Treasury said. “GL 41 authorizes activity related to Chevron’s joint ventures in Venezuela only, and does not authorize other activity with PdVSA” [5].

Kirby added that “as a function of the sanction itself, that oil, whatever product is drilled, has to come to the United States” [1].

The Corrected Count

In February 2023, the agency quietly corrected the White House’s favorite statistic. “As of February 2023, companies have over 6,600 approved and unused drilling permits available on federal lands,” the Bureau of Land Management told Fox News [3].

The bureau “blamed the revision on a Trump-era technical change that it hadn’t properly accounted for,” Fox reported [3].

By the Numbers

3 weeks: from “no more drilling” to the Chevron license [4][5].
9,000: unused permits Kirby claimed [1].
Fewer than 6,700: the bureau’s corrected count [3].
1: the Venezuela license Kirby compared with thousands of U.S. permits [1].

What Happened Next

Trump canceled the deal. On Feb. 26, 2025, President Donald Trump wrote: “We are hereby reversing the concessions that Crooked Joe Biden gave to Nicolás Maduro, of Venezuela, on the oil transaction agreement, dated November 26, 2022, and also having to do with Electoral conditions within Venezuela, which have not been met by the Maduro regime,” Fox Business reported [6].

He gave a second reason: “the regime has not been transporting the violent criminals that they sent into our Country” back to Venezuela “at the rapid pace that they had agreed to” [6].

Venezuela’s vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, called it “a damaging and inexplicable decision,” Fox Business reported [6].

“I am therefore ordering that the ineffective and unmet Biden ‘Concession Agreement’ be terminated as of the March 1st option to renew,” Trump wrote [6].

Maduro fell. In January 2026, “U.S. forces captured Maduro,” removing the longtime leader from power, Fox News reported [7].

For Biden’s “no more drilling” rally, see HYGO News’ page on that night, and for the Willow oil project he later approved, the page on Willow.