Venezuela and the US Sign 25-Year Oil Deal: Delsi Rodriguez

The interim president of Venezuela, Delsi Rodriguez, has announced that a 25-year agreement in the oil sector with the United States will be in effect. "This bilateral project aims to develop 17 strategic oil fields with a daily production of 1.5 million barrels," Rodriguez stated in a televised address. Her remarks were quoted by Western media.

She noted that the figure of 1.5 million barrels per day is preliminary, as further extraction of eight additional oil layers is planned. According to her calculations, the project's implementation would provide Venezuela with $209 billion, based on a price of $65 per barrel. Rodriguez insisted that $19 from each barrel sold would be directly transferred to Venezuela's budget.

The interim president assured that Venezuela would maintain its sovereignty, control over natural resource reserves, and secure capital, technology, and knowledge to modernize the sector affected by sanctions. Hardline supporters and the opposition in Venezuela have already criticized the agreements between Caracas and Washington. Bloomberg sources reported that negotiations on the deal have taken place without the involvement of Venezuelan opposition members.

Earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump had stated that Washington had signed the largest oil deal in history with Venezuela. He clarified that this deal would allow the U.S. to gain control over Venezuela's proven reserves of more than 65 billion barrels "at no cost to American taxpayers." Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio asserted that Venezuela would receive approximately $100 billion in private investments and new jobs as a result of the oil deal signed with Washington.