The energy reform bill before parliament ends a Chavez-era requirement for private companies to form joint ventures with state-owned oil firm PDVSA, which insisted on holding a majority.
“Having oil underground serves no purpose,” parliament speaker Jorge Rodriguez, the interim president’s brother, told lawmakers Thursday, urging them to back the reform.
“Every day that passes is a day lost and a day of (oil reserves) that we cannot use.”
To win the support of both Venezuelans and Washington, Delcy Rodriguez needs to quickly show improvements in the economy and signal an end to a decade of worsening repression under Maduro.
In the past two weeks, her government has slowly freed dozens of political prisoners from the hundreds behind bars.
On Thursday, authorities released the son-in-law of opposition figure Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who was serving a 30-year sentence on terrorism charges.
Gonzalez Urrutia, in exile in Spain, is widely considered the rightful winner of Venezuela’s 2024 election.
His son-in-law Rafael Tudares was arrested by masked men in January 2025 while heading to school with his two children.
Since Maduro’s ouster, Trump has ramped up pressure on another Latin American arch-foe, communist Cuba, a longtime Venezuela ally.
Trump has vowed to cut off all oil supplies to Cuba, which has relied for years on heavily subsidised Venezuelan oil and cash to remain afloat.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said Thursday he spoke by telephone with Rodriguez to express his “support and solidarity”.
