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Venezuela’s interim leader, Delcy Rodriguez, has enacted a significant reform to the country’s oil industry, paving the way for privatization. This dramatic shift marks a departure from a longstanding policy upheld by the nation’s socialist regime for over 20 years.
Rodriguez’s strategic move aims to attract essential foreign investment to revitalize the struggling sector. This decision comes on the heels of the United States’ capture of former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. As Maduro’s former vice president, Rodriguez has faced increasing pressure from the Trump administration, which has shown keen interest in Venezuela’s oil assets following the imposition of sanctions.
On January 10, President Trump convened a meeting at the White House with nearly two dozen leading figures from the oil and gas industry. He announced plans for U.S. energy companies to inject $100 billion into Venezuela’s aging oil infrastructure, with the goal of elevating production to unprecedented levels.
During a rally at the Miraflores Palace in Caracas on January 29, 2026, Acting President Rodriguez proudly displayed a copy of the newly approved legislation that opens Venezuela’s oil sector to private investment. (Ariana Cubillos/AP Photo)
On the same day, President Trump issued an executive order titled “Safeguarding Venezuelan Oil Revenue for the Good of the American and Venezuelan People.” This order prevents U.S. courts from seizing Venezuelan oil revenues held within American Treasury accounts, thereby securing those funds for both American and Venezuelan interests.
“We’re talking about the future. We are talking about the country that we are going to give to our children,” RodrÃguez said of the reform, according to The Associated Press.
Workers of Venezuela’s state-owned PDVSA oil company rally to back an oil reform bill proposed by acting President Delcy Rodriguez to loosen state control and open the industry to private and foreign investment in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026. (Ariana Cubillos/AP Photo)
The legislation ends the state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela SA’s (PDVSA) monopoly over the production and sale of oil, as well as pricing, and allows private companies to take control, the AP reported.Â
The new law states that a private company “will assume full management of the activities at its own expense, account, and risk, after demonstrating its financial and technical capacity through a business plan approved by” Venezuela’s Oil Ministry, according to the AP. However, the outlet added that the law leaves control of hydrocarbon reserves operated by private companies with the government.
The law also allows for independent arbitration of disputes, ending the requirement that they be settled in Venezuelan courts controlled by the ruling party, according to the AP. Additionally, it modifies extraction taxes, setting a royalty cap rate of 30%, the AP reported.
President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Rodriguez on Thursday, the AP reported. The call came just one day after the secretary explained to senators how the administration was planning to handle the sale of tens of millions of barrels of oil from Venezuela, the AP added. The outlet noted that Venezuela has the largest reserves of crude oil in the world.
A PDVSA worker of the state-owned oil company carries a cutout of former President Nicolás Maduro dressed as an oil worker during a rally to back an oil reform bill proposed by acting President Delcy Rodriguez to loosen state control and open the industry to private and foreign investment in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026. (Ariana Cubillos/AP Photo)
“What we hope to do is transition to a mechanism that allows that to be sold in a normal way, a normal oil industry, not one dominated by cronies, not one dominated by graft and corruption,” Rubio said at a Senate hearing on Wednesday.
The secretary said that the U.S. would retain control of the oil revenue and that Venezuela would submit monthly budget outlining what they need funded. Subsequently, the funds will be moved into an account over which the U.S. will have oversight. He explained that the money would not be in the hands of the U.S., but Washington would control its disbursement to ensure it benefits the Venezuelan people.