The president in charge of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, proposed a reform of the hydrocarbons law and asked the National Assembly to approve the new legal framework, while American investors press for easier access to Venezuela’s oil industry.
Rodríguez, who was sworn in on Jan. 5 after the overthrow of his predecessor Nicolás Maduro, declared during the annual presidential address to lawmakers that if it was up to him to go to Washington, until recently his political archenemy, he would do so “standing” and “not dragged.”
He added that “we have brought the bill for partial reform of the organic hydrocarbon law” with which it would attract “investment flows that are incorporated into new (oil) fields, to fields where investment has never been made and fields where there is no infrastructure.”
Until now, the hydrocarbon law contemplates that the state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela and a foreign partner jointly work on a field, but with the majority participation of PDVSA.
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Rodríguez did not give details of the changes in the legal proposal. The acting president also announced the creation of two funds, one for social protection and the other for infrastructure, which will be financed with oil revenues.
US completes first sales of Venezuelan crude
The United States said it completed the first sales of Venezuelan oil for $500 million, part of a $2 billion deal reached earlier this month between Caracas and Washington.
Many potential investors, especially in the United States, have called for urgent legal reforms to Venezuela’s main oil laws to facilitate the $100 billion reconstruction plan proposed by US President Donald Trump.
With information from Reuters
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