Venezuela's interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, has announced that the oil deal with the United States will last 25 years. "This 25-year bilateral program aims to develop 17 strategic oil fields with a daily production of 1.5 million barrels," Rodriguez said in a statement broadcast on state television. His words were quoted by Western media.
He noted that the figure of 1.5 million barrels per day is initial, as eight more oil fields are planned to be developed in the future. According to his calculations, the implementation of the project will allow Venezuela to receive $209 billion at a price of $65 per barrel. Rodriguez claims that $19 of each barrel sold will be directly transferred to the Venezuelan budget.
The interim president has assured that Venezuela will maintain its sovereignty, control over its natural resources, and will receive capital, technology, and knowledge to modernize the sanctions-hit sector.
Venezuelan hardliners and the opposition have already criticized the agreements between Caracas and Washington. Bloomberg sources said that the negotiations on the agreement were held without the participation of the Venezuelan opposition.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump announced that Washington had signed the largest oil deal in history with Venezuela. He specified that thanks to this deal, the US would gain control over more than 65 billion barrels of proven oil reserves in Venezuela “at no cost to the American taxpayer.” In turn, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio assured that Venezuela would receive about $100 billion in private investment and new jobs thanks to the oil deal signed with Washington.
