Venezuela: Guaido Proposes Landmark Oil Reforms

According to a Reuters report released March 12, partially recognized interim President Juan Guaido is preparing new legislation for Venezuela's oil and gas sector that would allow companies other than the country's state-owned energy company, Petroleos de Venezuela, to operate oil and gas fields. The proposed reforms, which Guaido's allies are presenting at an energy conference in Houston this week, are expected to be released for debate in Venezuela's National Assembly in the coming days. But even if his reforms are passed by the opposition-led National Assembly, they cannot be implemented until after the government of President Nicolas Maduro loses control of the energy sector, over which his loyalists in the military still hold a tight grip....