Venezuela looks to woo US oil majors with new US-educated investment czar

Venezuela's interim president Delcy Rodríguez appointed a US-educated banker to head the country's main investment agency, in an apparent overture to US investors following the ouster of Nicolas Maduro.

Rodríguez sacked a close ally of her ousted predecessor to make way for Calixto Ortega Sánchez, the former head of the country's central bank, as head of the International Centre for Productive Investment.

Ortega had also been previously posted to Houston, the Texas city at the centre of the US oil refining industry, as part of Venezuela's diplomatic mission.

Analysts described the move as yet another signal to US President Donald Trump that Venezuela is prepared to give US oil companies prime access to its energy sector.

Writing on X, Rodríguez said Ortega's appointment would allow for "the continued attraction of national and international investment" to spur an economic recovery.

Ortega replaces Alex Saab, a Colombian-born Venezuelan seen as a frontman for Maduro.

The writing had been on the wall for Saab since last week when Rodríguez sacked him as industry minister.

Washington had accused him of money-laundering.

Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group, told AFP he saw Ortega's appointment as "a signal to the Trump administration that Venezuela wants to play by the rules."

"It demonstrates proactive efforts to attract major international players like Chevron and ExxonMobil" and thereby "significantly increase crude oil production," he said.

Oil firms 'require stability'

Trump claims that Washington effectively runs Venezuela since January 3, when US forces captured Maduro at a military compound in Caracas and whisked him to a New York jail.

He backed Rodríguez to replace Maduro, while warning she would pay a "very big price, probably bigger than Maduro" if she did not toe Washington's line.

He says oil companies are prepared to invest at least US$100 billion in Venezuela. 

"The experience and investment of many American companies will be necessary to revitalize the country's oil and gas production," Rob Thummel, senior portfolio manager at Tortoise Capital, told AFP. 

But those companies would "require stability and political clarity" before committing huge sums to the effort, he added.

Nod to Machado

Watching the transition unfold from the sidelines is popular opposition leader, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado.

Trump dismayed many Venezuelans by cutting her out of the process.

Trump said Tuesday he was still talking to Machado, who presented him with her Nobel medal, which he openly coveted, at the White House last week.

"Maybe we can get her involved in some way. I'd love to be able to do that," the Republican leader told reporters in Washington.

Machado, who is still touring the US capital, said Tuesday there could be no real change in Venezuela until all political prisoners are released.

Rodríguez has begun to slowly release some of the estimated 800 political prisoners languishing in the country's penitentiaries.

Several key Maduro opponents still remain behind bars, however.

On Tuesday, the families of 200 prisoners demonstrated outside the prosecutor's office in Caracas to demand proof of life of their loved ones.

"Where are they?" one of the placards waved by the demonstrators read.

Nancy Quiñones told AFP she had gone without news of her son, serving a 24-year sentence for his alleged role in a coup attempt, for five months and 18 days.

– TIMES/AFP