Venezuela outlines $76 bln oil investment plan

Acting President Delcy Rodríguez said Venezuela expects almost $76 billion in oil investment over the next five years under recently signed agreements. She made the announcement on national television, presenting the deals as a major step for the country’s energy sector. The investment figure covers multiple accords with foreign partners and is framed as a multi‑year program rather than a single project.

Rodríguez said the agreements are designed to bring what she described as direct benefits both to Venezuela and to its partners. She characterized the package as signaling a new phase for the domestic oil industry, which has seen output fall from levels reached a decade ago. The deals are part of broader efforts to attract external capital and technical support to the sector.

A central component of the new commitments is a bilateral oil accord between Venezuela and the United States. Rodríguez said this agreement covers 17 oil fields and includes plans to drill 250 rigs. She indicated that this bilateral accord is embedded within a larger framework of cooperation rather than being a standalone arrangement.

The U.S. oil accord is part of a broader package of 61 agreements signed between the parties. These agreements collectively underpin the expected investment inflows over the five‑year horizon. While detailed terms were not disclosed, the scale and number of projects suggest activity across multiple producing areas and stages of development.

The announcements come after steps taken since January 2026 to reopen Venezuela’s energy sector to foreign investment with backing from the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. These steps have aimed to reestablish cooperation with international companies and governments. The newly signed agreements build on that opening, formalizing specific investment plans and operational commitments.

Reporting on the developments notes that Venezuela holds the world’s largest proven crude oil reserves but currently produces well below levels seen a decade ago. The new accords are presented as measures that could help reverse that decline. In this context, the five‑year, $76 billion program is positioned as a key tool to restore production capacity and modernize infrastructure.

Rodríguez highlighted a reported recovery in oil production in western Zulia state as an example of improving conditions. She said output there has risen from 70,000 barrels per day to about 370,000 barrels per day. She did not specify the time period over which the earlier production level applied.

Rodríguez added that Zulia’s production is expected to reach 400,000 barrels per day by the end of the year. This anticipated increase is portrayed as part of a broader recovery in national output that the new investment agreements could reinforce. The combination of fresh capital, expanded drilling activity, and specific regional gains forms the core of the government’s current outlook for the oil sector.