Venezuela has announced a plan to increase its oil production by 18 percent in 2026. The state oil company PDVSA’s Chief Executive Officer Hector Obregon said the country has launched a reform program to fully open the energy sector to private investors in order to achieve this target. He noted that the previous law was not aligned with current industry needs, and Venezuela’s current oil output stands at around one million barrels per day.

Analysts said the new legislation is part of President Delcy Rodríguez’s commitment and that pressure from the United States played a key role in its initial approval. The pressure reportedly intensified after Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro was detained during a U.S. special forces operation. U.S. President Donald Trump has also expressed interest in Venezuela’s oil sector.

If the law is finally passed, it will ease decades of state control over Venezuela’s oil industry, a system that was further tightened in the mid-2000s under the late socialist leader Hugo Chávez.