Delcy Rodríguez says oil-producing Venezuela will help balance the global economy

Delcy Rodríguez said Venezuela’s return as a major oil producer would not only reshape the country’s future, but also contribute to global energy security and economic balance.

“We are marking not only Venezuela’s future, but also the contribution Venezuela will make to the world, the hemisphere, international energy security and the balance of the global economy,” Rodríguez said at an event with oil workers broadcast by state television.

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We are marking not only Venezuela’s future, but also the contribution Venezuela will make to the world, the hemisphere, international energy security and the balance of the global economy.

Rodríguez, who has led the government for eight months following Nicolás Maduro’s capture by the United States in January, highlighted agreements covering the development of new fields. She said eight of those fields formed part of what she called an “extraordinary bilateral agreement” with Washington, announced a week earlier.

She thanked U.S. President Donald Trump for his willingness to revive an energy relationship dating to 1859 and said differences and disputes should be resolved through diplomacy and negotiation. She also pointed to agreements with companies from Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, saying they would shape Venezuela’s energy development and position it in the international energy system.

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I have advocated resolving differences and controversies through diplomacy and negotiation.

According to Rodríguez, the U.S. megaproject will run for 25 years and cover 17 fields holding 65 billion barrels, with production targeted above 1.5 million barrels per day. That would involve exploiting one-fifth of Venezuela’s more than 303 billion barrels in reserves, which are the world’s largest according to the report.

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Venezuela’s enemies of the United States are today in Miraflores.

The White House also confirmed a concession of up to a century for North American Blue Energy Partners, owned by Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt. On Friday, Colombia’s GeoPark and the Venezuelan government signed a 25-year contract to operate the Bare block in the Orinoco oil belt.

Opposition leader María Corina Machado criticized the government, saying Venezuela could not develop without strong institutions and a government elected by popular vote.

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There can be no development without strong institutions and without a government elected by popular vote.