Venezuela moves to open up oil sector, a key Trump demand

CARACAS, Jan 23 (AFP): Venezuelan lawmakers on Thursday gave their initial backing to plans to throw open the oil sector to private investors, paving the way for the return of US energy majors -- a key demand of President Donald Trump.
Less than three weeks after the US ouster of Nicolas Maduro, MPs endorsed on first reading a bill allowing private companies to independently engage in oil exploration and extraction.
If adopted on a second reading, the bill would roll back decades of state controls over Venezuela's oil sector, which were tightened by Maduro's late mentor, socialist firebrand Hugo Chavez, in the mid-2000s.
The bill has been promoted by Maduro's former deputy, acting president Delcy Rodriguez, who has overseen a lightning-fast thaw in ties with Washington since taking the helm.
On Thursday, Trump called her leadership "very strong" and said the United States is already taking a cut of Venezuela's oil.
"Our country will become richer and that means our taxes will be going down and they will do better -- Venezuela's going to do better than they've ever done," Trump said.
Another change unfolded in Caracas Thursday, with the United States confirming Laura F. Dogu -- a former ambassador to Nicaragua and Honduras -- as the new charge d'affaires to Venezuela.
That was seen as a step toward restoration of full diplomatic ties. Caracas and Washington severed relations after Maduro's first widely disputed claim to reelection in 2019.
Within days of Maduro's January 3 capture in Caracas, US diplomats travelled to the Venezuelan capital to discuss reopening the embassy.
Trump has boasted that he is working "really well" with Rodriguez, who was vice president and petroleum minister -- a position she still holds -- in Maduro's fiercely anti-US government.
On Wednesday, a senior US official said Rodriguez would soon visit the United States, despite still being under Washington sanctions.
Maduro was toppled after a monthslong US pressure campaign and flown to New York with his wife to face trial on drug trafficking charges.
Rodriguez has appeared ready to comply with Trump's open interest in Venezuela's oil.
"We are in a process of dialogue, of working with the United States, without fear," she said Wednesday.
This week she ploughed $300 million from a US-brokered oil sale into propping up the ailing national currency, the bolivar.
The mere anticipation of the injection drove down the price of dollars, the currency in which many Venezuelans conduct their business.
But economists warned that true relief from spiraling prices would require a sustained influx of dollars -- which in turn requires foreign investment.
Venezuela has the world's largest proven reserves of oil but output has fallen from over three million barrels per day in the early 2000s to around 1.2 million today.
The energy reform bill before parliament ends a Chavez-era requirement for private companies to form joint ventures with state-owned oil firm PDVSA, which insisted on holding a majority.