{"id":9636,"date":"2026-01-23T08:24:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T13:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/?p=9636"},"modified":"2026-01-23T08:24:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T13:24:10","slug":"venezuela-opens-debate-on-an-oil-sector-overhaul-as-trump-seeks-role-for-u-s-firms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/?p=9636","title":{"rendered":"Venezuela Opens Debate on an Oil Sector Overhaul as Trump Seeks Role for U.S. Firms"},"content":{"rendered":"
Flames rise from flare stacks at the Amuay refinery in Los Taques, Venezuela, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo\/Matias Delacroix)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Venezuela\u2019s legislature advanced a bill on Thursday to loosen state control over the country\u2019s vast oil sector<\/a><\/span> in the first major overhaul since the late socialist leader Hugo Ch\u00e1vez nationalized parts of the industry in 2007.<\/p>\n

The legislation would formally break decades of state command over some of the world\u2019s largest oil reserves<\/a><\/span>, create new opportunities for private companies to invest and establish international arbitration for investment disputes.<\/p>\n

Following the U.S. capture of former President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/a><\/span> earlier this month, the Trump administration has ramped up pressure on acting President Delcy Rodr\u00edguez<\/a><\/span> and other allies of the ousted leader to invite greater investment<\/a><\/span> from U.S. energy companies in Venezuela\u2019s flagging oil industry.<\/p>\n

A draft of the proposed legislation, a copy of which was seen by The Associated Press, represents a stark retreat from the resource nationalism at the heart of Venezuela\u2019s socialist-inspired revolution.<\/p>\n

Reflecting U.S. demands, the proposed legislation would allow private companies to independently operate oil fields, market their own crude output and collect the cash revenues through contracts with Petr\u00f3leos de Venezuela, the state-run oil company and long the cornerstone of Venezuela\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe operating company shall assume the comprehensive management of the execution of the activities, at its sole cost, expense and risk,\u201d the draft says, adding that portions of production volumes \u201cmay be directly commercialized by the operating company, once governmental obligations have been fulfilled.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crucially, the bill offers companies the option of settling legal disputes through arbitration in international courts rather than just local courts. It also allows the government to cut royalties from the current 30% to as low as 15% and slash extraction taxes to persuade companies to commit to difficult projects in underdeveloped fields.<\/p>\n

The president of Venezuela\u2019s National Assembly, Jorge Rodr\u00edguez, told lawmakers at the start of Thursday\u2019s debate that the bill aims to \u201callow an accelerated increase in production\u201d of oil in Venezuela.<\/p>\n

\u201cOil under the ground is useless,\u201d he said, referring to the need to boost oil production and open up exploration opportunities.<\/p>\n

Pushed by Delcy Rodr\u00edguez, the bill is expected to advance swiftly<\/a><\/span> through the ruling party-dominated legislature.<\/p>\n

After around two hours of discussion, lawmakers gave initial approval to the bill on Thursday and sent it to a second round of debate, yet to be scheduled.<\/p>\n

During the session, Orlando Camacho, a lawmaker and head of Venezuela\u2019s national Fedeindustria business association, said the bill ensures \u201cthat oil continues to be the driving force of our country\u2019s development.\u201d<\/p>\n

The proposed legal guarantees \u2014 ensuring that foreign companies can bring claims against Venezuela before international bodies \u2014 are necessary to attract private investment, he said, adding, \u201cIt is a bold step.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even as U.S. President Donald Trump<\/a><\/span> looks to lure American companies to reboot Venezuela\u2019s oil sector, many remain concerned about the financial and legal risks of pouring billions of dollars into the country.<\/p>\n

Plenty of investors have been burned before<\/a><\/span>, their assets seized<\/a><\/span> as Ch\u00e1vez nationalized parts of Venezuela\u2019s lucrative oil industry in 2007.<\/p>\n

Firms like Exxon<\/a><\/span> have been trying to get the Venezuelan government to compensate them for their billions of dollars in losses ever since, to no avail.<\/p>\n

The current political uncertainty<\/a><\/span> also worries investors.<\/p>\n

There is no timeline for holding democratic elections<\/a><\/span> in Venezuela as Rodr\u00edguez, long Maduro\u2019s second in command<\/a><\/span>, seeks to consolidate control.<\/p>\n

Trump also hasn\u2019t said when the U.S. will lift crippling sanctions he imposed in his first term<\/a><\/span> to weaken Maduro\u2019s government, further complicating foreign operations in the country\u2019s oil sector.<\/p>\n

– Regina Garcia Cano, AP News<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Venezuela\u2019s legislature advanced a bill on Thursday to loosen state control over the country\u2019s vast oil sector in the first major overhaul since the late socialist leader Hugo Ch\u00e1vez nationalized parts of the industry in 2007. The legislation would formally break decades of state command over some of the world\u2019s largest oil reserves, create new opportunities for private…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":124,"featured_media":9638,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dims.apnews.com\/dims4\/default\/55a4e1f\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/5124x3414+0+1\/resize\/980x653!\/format\/webp\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.apnews.com%2Ff1%2F2b%2F08f11c1832b8227dd767ca6f945d%2F96f31316296144339e4105054d18876d","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[185],"tags":[210],"class_list":["post-9636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy-infrastructure","tag-thedailybrief"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/124"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9636"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9639,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9636\/revisions\/9639"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}