Caracas (AFP) – Venezuela’s interim president on Thursday announced pending legal reforms to the country’s critical fossil fuel sector, as she seeks to recalibrate ties with Washington following the US military ouster of her predecessor, Nicolas Maduro. Since the January 3 capture of Maduro, US President Donald Trump has asserted that the United States essentially controls Venezuela, while making clear that accessing its vast oil reserves is a key goal of the intervention.
Sanctioned by Washington since 2019, Venezuela sits on about a fifth of the world’s oil reserves and was once a major crude supplier to the United States. However, it produced only around one percent of the world’s total crude output in 2024, according to OPEC, having been hampered by years of underinvestment, sanctions, and embargoes.
Without providing details, interim president Delcy Rodriguez told parliament Thursday there would be reforms to Venezuela’s Hydrocarbons Law, which limits the involvement of foreign entities in exploiting the nationalized resources. The changes would also touch on so-called anti-blockade provisions, which give the government tools to counteract US sanctions in place since 2019.
Trump has recently pressed top oil executives to invest in Venezuela. Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips exited in 2007 after refusing demands by then-president Hugo Chavez to cede majority control to the state. They have been fighting to recoup 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 unveiled a plan to develop Venezuela’s oil industry and has begun marketing Venezuelan crude. US Energy Secretary Chris Wright has said Washington will control the sales of Venezuelan oil “indefinitely.” Rodriguez said the envisioned legal reform would result in money for “new fields, to fields where there has never been investment, and to fields where there is no infrastructure.”
The South American country produced over one million barrels of oil per day (bpd) in 2025 — up from a historic low of about 360,000 — but still far from the three million bpd it was pumping 25 years ago. Oil exports are Venezuela’s main source of revenue.
© 2024 AFP
