From Fox News: Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodriguez signed a law overhauling the nation’s oil sector, opening it to privatization. The move reverses a core policy of the socialist movement that has ruled the country for more than two decades.
Rodriguez’s policy shift, aimed at luring the foreign investors needed to rework the industry, comes less than one month after the U.S. captured former Venezuelan dictatorial leader Nicolás Maduro. The acting president, who served as Maduro’s vice president prior to his capture, was facing pressure from the Trump administration, which was eyeing Venezuela’s oil industry after imposing sanctions.
On Jan. 10, Trump hosted nearly two dozen top oil and gas executives at the White House. He said American energy companies will invest $100 billion to rebuild Venezuela’s “rotting” oil infrastructure and push production to record levels.
That same day, Trump signed an executive order titled “Safeguarding Venezuelan Oil Revenue for the Good of the American and Venezuelan People,” blocking U.S. courts from seizing Venezuelan oil revenues held in American Treasury accounts.
The new 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 Associated Press reported. reported.
Under the new law, 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.
A new law allows private companies to manage oil production and sales, ending PDVSA’s monopoly. The law also sets a 30% royalty cap and allows for independent arbitration of disputes.
“We’re talking about the future. We are talking about the country that we are going to give to our children,” Rodríguez said, The Associated Press reported.
Read more at Fox News
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