WASHINGTON, Jan 16 (Reuters) – The U.S. is moving as fast as it can to grant Chevron an expanded license for its oil production in Venezuela, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told Reuters on Friday. 

The U.S. plans to let Chevron pay the Venezuelan government with cash instead of crude in kind, which will let the company sell all the oil it produces in the country, Wright said.

“So they become immediately, another marketer of crude as well,” he said.

(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici)