Acting President Rodriguez seeks to ensure her country becomes an energy power, Oil Minister Henao pointed out.

During a television interview on Thursday, Venezuelan Oil Minister Paula Henao called for the complete end of unilateral U.S. sanctions against the South American nation.

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“We have been in a stage of opening to investment. Some measures are being relaxed, but that is not enough,” she emphasized, referring to the relative easing of U.S. sanctions on Venezuelan oil, mining, and financial activities.

Over the past six months, relations between Venezuela and the United States have gone from confrontation to a gradual rapprochement, with the lifting of some sanctions and increasing normalization of relations.

Despite the progress achieved, Acting President Delcy Rodriguez will continue calling for the complete end of sanctions to ensure that Venezuela becomes an “energy power,” Henao said.

The Orinoco Belt holds some of the largest oil deposits on Earth, and none of it reaches a tanker without four separate upgrading plants first.

Venezuela’s extra heavy crude has to pass through Hamaca Petropiar, Petrocedeno, Petromonagas and Petro San Felix, a combined… pic.twitter.com/I8z5azx9Lj

— Jack Prandelli (@jackprandelli) August 29, 2026

The Oil Minister highlighted that her country “plays a fundamental role” in the global energy balance, which is why she considers it “impossible to remove Venezuela from that equation.”

“We are precisely a guarantee of that energy balance. We are a reliable supplier that is available at all times and that undoubtedly makes those resources available to the world to meet all the demand,” she said.

Henao described as a “historic milestone” the agreements signed Sept. 2, when Acting President Rodriguez signed the energy agreements alongside U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who visited Caracas less than a week after U.S. President Donald Trump and the Venezuelan leader announced a major bilateral agreement.

These agreements will allow the Carabobo 1 and Carabobo 2 blocks to join Petroindependencia, a joint venture formed between state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and Chevron to expand energy operations in the Orinoco Belt.

“We have already begun to see the mobilization of the first drilling rigs toward those areas,” Henao announced. She said production by companies with Chevron participation is projected to increase from about 270,000 barrels per day (bpd), where it currently stands, to more than 300,000 bpd this year and subsequently to 700,000 bpd.

teleSUR/ JF

Sources: VTV – EFE

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