Venezuela Creates Oil Revenue Funds, Reforms Energy Law

Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodríguez, announced sweeping reforms to the country’s hydrocarbons law and the creation of two state-managed funds to channel oil revenues into social protection and economic development. 

The move comes in the wake of President Nicolás Maduro’s arrest and amid U.S. efforts to assert control over future Venezuelan oil sales.

Rodríguez outlined the structure of the funds during a parliamentary session in Caracas on Thursday. The Social Protection Fund will support worker incomes, healthcare, and other social services, while the Economic Development Fund is earmarked for public infrastructure and investment in previously underdeveloped oil fields lacking basic facilities.

“These funds will allow us to integrate investment flows into new oil blocks that have never seen development,” Rodríguez said, emphasizing the goal of attracting new investors and revitalizing Venezuela’s energy sector.

The proposed amendments to the hydrocarbons law are expected to formalize market-oriented policies quietly introduced under Maduro in an attempt to stabilize the economy after years of contraction, sanctions, and limited foreign investment. 

The government has not yet released full details of the legal changes, but analysts expect the reforms to create a clearer framework for private and foreign participation in the oil sector.

The announcement comes two weeks after U.S. forces detained President Maduro in Caracas, with the Biden administration stating plans to maintain control over future Venezuelan oil revenues held in U.S. accounts indefinitely. 

Rodríguez’s initiative appears designed to assert domestic control over the nation’s primary revenue source while reassuring potential investors of a stable framework for investment.

Venezuela’s energy sector, long the backbone of the national economy, has suffered from underinvestment, sanctions, and declining output. The creation of these funds signals a strategic pivot to channel revenues into both social programs and infrastructure projects, while encouraging development of untapped oil blocks critical for increasing production.