(Reuters, 1.Oct.2020) — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has drafted legislation to grant his government expanded powers to confidentially sign new oil deals with private firms and foreign nations as a way of getting around U.S. sanctions, according to the proposal and people familiar with the initiative.
Maduro delivered the “anti-blockade” bill on Tuesday to the government-aligned Constituent Assembly, a parallel legislature he created to bypass the opposition-controlled congress. The sources said the assembly will pass it into law during its next session.
The draft legislation, seen by Reuters, allows the government to modify the “constitution, ownership, management, and administration” of Venezuela’s public and semi-public companies. With the reform, Maduro is seeking greater investment in the oil sector, the sources said, speaking anonymously because they had not been authorized to speak publicly.
By giving more control of oil production to private companies, his government could dodge sanctions focused on PDVSA, the sources said. The document does not specify what stake Venezuelan state-run oil firm PDVSA will maintain in its partnerships.
Years of mismanagement and corruption, along with crippling sanctions imposed by the Trump administration, have caused the OPEC nation’s oil sector to collapse. Maduro’s government is now dependent on fuel shipments from ally Iran to keep supplying gasoline to Venezuelans.
The new bill also opens the door for Maduro to reverse the nationalization of many Venezuelans firms under the socialist government of his predecessor Hugo Chavez.
All the agreements will initially be secret as the proposal establishes a “temporary regime of classifying documents.”
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By Mayela Armas and Corina Pons
