HOUSTON — Venezuela opposition leader María Corina Machado called Tuesday for the full privatization of the South American nation’s oil industry in an address that laid out her vision to energy executives and investors.

“The Venezuelan state will get out of the way and pave the way to give the conditions so that the oil and gas sector in Venezuela will go fully private,” Machado said at S&P Global’s CERAWeek conference in Houston, Texas.

Machado, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was blocked in 2024 from running for president by the regime of former President Nicolás Maduro. She previously served in the National Assembly. Machado leads the opposition movement that seeks a transition to democracy and a market economy in Venezuela.

The U.S. captured Maduro in a military raid in January, but has left the rest of the regime in place. The Trump administration has praised its cooperation with interim President Delcy Rodríguez, who served as vice president under Maduro.

It will take at least nine months to set the conditions for free and fair elections in Venezuela, Machado said. The opposition leader said the Venezuelan people will vote for free markets, rule of law and property rights.

Machado laid out a vision in which a future democratic state in Venezuela will set clear rules, and enforce contracts. “The role of the state will be strictly as a regulator, creating incentives for long term investment,” she said.

Machado said state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) has been turned into a “criminal organization.”

“In the first stages we will have to reduce dramatically its size, while some operations keep on taking place, until we can actually privatize the whole operation process,” she said.

Venezuela could produce more than 5 million barrels per day but it will require a huge investment of $150 billion over the next decade, Machado said. The country currently produces around 1 million bpd, though it is believed to possess the largest proven reserves in the world.

Industry skepticism

President Donald Trump is pressuring U.S. oil and gas companies to invest in Venezuela, but industry leaders are skeptical.

ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil have made clear they will not return until major political reforms are implemented to protect private sector investments. The companies had their assets seized by President Hugo Chávez in 2007.

Conoco will not invest until there is way to recover some of the $12 billion that Venezuela owes the company from the expropriation of its assets, CEO Ryan Lance said Tuesday. The recent reform of Venezuela’s oil laws under Rodríguez are “woefully inadequate,” Lance said.

“They have a long ways to go to make the country competitive globally to attract the kinds of billions of dollars of investments that are going to be required,” Lance said at CERAWeek.

It will require not only physical security and contract guarantees but also policy durability in Venezuela and the U.S., the CEO said.

“You need need policy durability — not only the Venezuelan side but the U.S. side,” Lance said. “What happens when another administration comes in? How are they going to view Venezuela?”

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