HOUSTON—Post-Maduro Venezuela will “offer the most competitive space in the Western Hemisphere” for energy development as it transitions into a democracy that will privatize state-owned industry, offer 25-year contracts, and keep royalties below 20 percent, 2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner and the oil-rich country’s opposition leader María Corina Machado pledged on March 24.
“So here’s my invitation, directly to you,” she told energy executives and investors from nearly 90 nations at the 44th annual CERAWeek by S&P Global at the Americas Hilton-Houston.
“Our team is ready to reach out to operators and investors in every aspect of our energy framework. Now is the moment to build strong relationships. Our future is extraordinary, and I want all of you to be part of it.”
Machado, who leads the still-banned Vente Venezuela party and has not returned to Venezuela since the United States captured the country’s leader, Nicolás Maduro, in a Jan. 3 raid in Caracas, said “important steps have been taken to reengage Venezuela and begin … a new chapter” for the country.
But that will require investment and assurances that Venezuela is stable and free of the repression and corruption that impoverished a nation rich in natural resources.
Venezuela holds the world’s largest proven oil reserves, an estimated 300 billion untapped barrels; the world’s seventh-largest natural gas reserves; and viable deposits of at least 30 critical minerals that the U.S. Geological Survey identifies as critical to the nation’s economy, she said.
“Today, Venezuela produces approximately a million barrels a day, less than a third that it used to produce 25 years ago, and a fraction of what you will achieve again,” Machado said. “With the right investment environment, Venezuela can realistically reach well over 5 million barrels a day.”
Revitalizing an industry, and a nation, addled by decades of socialist policies and mismanagement, will require an estimated $150 billion in investment over the next 10 years, she said.
“This is the kind of long-cycle, large-scale commitment that the companies in this room are going to make when the right conditions are in place,” Machado said. “How to create these conditions is exactly what I’m here to talk about.”
Undo Decades of Decay
In 2007, Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez forced foreign firms to purchase minority stakes in “joint ventures” with PDVSA, the national oil company, seizing at least 60 percent ownership in developments built by, among others, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, and Chevron. Only Chevron remains marginally engaged in Venezuelan oil development now.
Machado said her vision is to undo the damage done by Chávez and his successor, Maduro.
“Working alongside a team of experts in Venezuela and abroad, as well as leading executives and technical specialists all across the global energy industry, we have developed a comprehensive plan for this sector, designed with both international investors and our people in mind,” she said.
“Venezuela has a very, very low risk in terms of exploration,” Machado said. “You know what the resources are. Secondly, you have very competitive production costs … [and] a century of production history that probably no other country in this hemisphere can match.”
“And, of course,” she said, “we have the most beautiful beaches in the world. All of this is located in the heart of the Americas, five days away by boat from United States.”
Under her plan, private investment will be curried, not scorned.
“The Venezuelan state will get out of the way,” Machado said. “The oil and gas sector in Venezuela will go fully private. The role of the state will be strictly as a regulator, creating incentives for long-term investment.”
The government will ensure contracts are maintained, create “an independent and autonomous hydrocarbon agency,” and guarantee “investors and operators … own production right out of the wellhead.”
Most importantly, “the right institutional framework” will be installed to instill “long-term investor confidence,” Machado said, and that will be delivered by the people of Venezuela soon.
First Things First
Venezuela’s transition from poverty to prosperity will be made possible under a democratic government, she said.
Venezuela interim leader Delcy Rodríguez, who remains in office in Caracas with the blessing of the Trump administration, said there will be “free and fair” elections in Venezuela, but there’s no timeline as yet.
Machado overwhelmingly won her party’s October 2023 primary with more than 90 percent of the vote, but she was barred from running by Maduro-manipulated courts. She supported Edmundo González, widely recognized by the international community as Venezuela’s true president after winning the 2024 presidential election that the Maduro regime refused to acknowledge.
“The Venezuelan people gave us that mandate [to transition to democracy] in 2024,” she said, and when given a chance to reaffirm that mandate, the country will do so enthusiastically.
“Our people will vote for free markets, rule of law, independent power, for property rights, for investment and for a future defined by work, marriage, prosperity, our history, and family.”
She said that despite the repression of the Chávez-Maduro era, Venezuela is “a cohesive society” with deep, long-standing “religious, ethnic, regional traditions” and a people who survived “hunger, isolation, and fear” and are ready to work for a better future.
“Our people organized. Our people resisted. Our people held together,” Machado said. “They are the reason that we are here today. They are the reason why this will work.”
The only question is “whether the condition exists” for these assets, skills, and qualities to be unleashed, she said.
“Our people are ready. The industry is ready. Venezuela is ready,” Machado said. “We welcome foreign investment. We understand this is the path to rebuild the people who will be your workforce, your neighbors, and your partners.”
Correction: A previous version of this article misspelled the names of Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado and Venezuelan interim leader Delcy Rodríguez. The Epoch Times regrets the errors.
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