Venezuela's Interim President Delcy Rodriguez Pledges Oil Sector Reform

(Patria) - Venezuela's interim president Delcy Rodriguez has announced upcoming legal reforms in the country's key fossil fuel sector, as she seeks to recalibrate relations with Washington after the US military ousted her predecessor Nicolas Maduro, AFP reported.

Since Maduro's abduction on January 3, US President Donald Trump has claimed that the United States controls Venezuela and said that access to its oil reserves was a key goal of the intervention.

Sanctioned by Washington since 2019, Venezuela sits on about one-fifth of the world's oil reserves and was once a major supplier of crude oil to the United States.

But, according to OPEC, it produced only about one percent of total global crude oil output in 2024, after being hampered by years of underinvestment, sanctions and embargoes.

Without providing details, Rodriguez told parliament that there would be reforms to Venezuela's Hydrocarbons Law, which limits the participation of foreign entities in the exploitation of nationalized resources.

The changes would also touch on so-called anti-blockade provisions that give the government tools to counter US sanctions in place since 2019.

Trump has been pressuring top oil industry executives to invest in Venezuela. Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips left Venezuela in 2007 after refusing demands from then-president Hugo Chavez to cede majority control to the state. They are fighting to recover billions of dollars they say Venezuela owes them. Chevron is the only US firm operating in Venezuela, under a special sanctions exemption license.

The US Department of Energy has presented a plan to develop Venezuela's oil industry and has begun selling Venezuelan crude oil.
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Washington would control the sale of Venezuelan oil "indefinitely."

Rodriguez said the planned legal reform would result in money for "new fields, for fields that have never seen investment, and for fields where there is no infrastructure."

Venezuela was producing over one million barrels of oil per day in 2025, up from an historic low of around 360,000, but far from the three million barrels per day of 25 years ago. Oil exports are Venezuela's main source of revenue.