Goldman Sachs MD Neil Mehta speaks to Energy Sec. Chris Wright at energy conference — 1/7/2026

Summary

Goldman Sachs' Neil Mehta interviews US Energy Secretary Chris Wright at an energy conference. Wright discusses the Venezuela oil situation, US energy dominance, nuclear renaissance, AI data center power demand, natural gas, coal, and rare earths. He criticizes solar and wind subsidies and argues for more reliable baseload capacity. The interview highlights policy tailwinds for natural gas, nuclear, uranium, coal, AI infrastructure, and rare earths, while flagging Venezuelan oil supply recovery and grid strain.

• Wright says the US removed Maduro and plans to let Venezuelan oil flow under US-controlled sales, with potential for several hundred thousand barrels per day of added production.
• He argues US oil and gas production is strong, with natural gas the fastest-growing energy source and room to grow domestic demand and exports.
• He criticizes solar and wind as costly malinvestment and says high renewable penetration raises electricity prices and deindustrializes economies.
• He supports a nuclear renaissance, including plant restarts, new large reactors, SMRs, and domestic uranium enrichment.
• He says AI is transformative and DOE is using national lab land and fast permits to attract data centers and secure computing capacity.
• He warns the US grid needs about 100 GW of reliable capacity and that current trends could make blackouts far more common by 2030.
• He wants to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve but says progress is slower than desired.
• He says rare earth supply chains require strategic reshoring or friend-shoring to counter one-country dominance.