CERAWEEK-Oil prices have not climbed enough to cause demand destruction, US energy secretary says

By Jarrett Renshaw and Marianna Parraga

HOUSTON, March 23 (Reuters) - Global oil prices have not climbed enough to cause demand destruction, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Monday at the CERAWeek energy conference in Houston, Texas, even as markets continued to gyrate and global oil prices remained over $100 a barrel due to the U.S.-Israel war on Iran.

Wright's remarks come amid one of the worst energy crises in decades following the closure of a key shipping channel and attacks on energy infrastructure in the Middle East that have sustained long-term damage. Oil prices have climbed to multi-year highs and fuel prices in the U.S. are surging, creating potential trouble for President Donald Trump's Republican party ahead of the mid-term elections.

The Trump administration is taking steps to pacify markets, including releasing oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve in conjunction with other members of the International Energy Agency. Wright on Monday said the U.S. was going to release between a million and a million-and-a-half barrels per day of oil, eventually getting to 3 million bpd.

Wright said Asia has been most intensely affected by the market shocks and supplying refineries there was a priority for the Trump administration.

“We want to get oil into Asian refineries and have as little refining downturn as possible,” he said.

Wright said Venezuela is "meaningfully better" than it was months ago, following the capture of President Nicolas Maduro and the U.S. takeover of the OPEC country's oil exports, with some 200,000 bpd of crude output restored so far.

Following a trip to Caracas last month when he met interim President Delcy Rodriguez and visited oilfields, Wright said there will be an election in Venezuela "eventually," without providing further details.