Oil agreements prioritize Venezuelan workers and national capital. This statement was made by Acting President Delcy Rodríguez on Saturday, October 17. She emphasized that this measure is contemplated in Article 19 of the Hydrocarbons Law reform, a legal instrument promulgated by Rodríguez on the night of January 29, after it had been unanimously sanctioned by the National Assembly earlier that day.During her participation in the closing of the 2026 Energy, Oil and Gas Conference organized by PDVSA, she read Article 19 of the law, which states: “The state, the entities referred to in this law, must incorporate the participation of companies with national capital in their contracting processes, under conditions that ensure the optimal and effective use of goods, services, human resources, and capital of Venezuelan origin.”She added: “The law is very clear. All of the investments we have signed, all these agreements—61 agreements signed and 44 under negotiation—have always had as their north and horizon the participation of national capital and the participation of Venezuela’s workers.”She noted these contracts will allow investors to earn profits while also benefiting the country. In that sense, she referred to the advantages of the agreements signed, highlighting that in a period of five to 10 years, they estimate creating 324,000 jobs, “including direct, indirect, and induced” ones.She said that, in conversations with PDVSA President Héctor Obregón, they calculated that the binational agreement signed with the United States contemplates 250 drills, “each drill requires hiring 200 workers.”She reiterated that the oil agreements also activate other areas of the economy. Among them, she cited: “metalworking, transportation, logistics, food, hospitality, equipment rental, professional services, security—practically all sectors of the national economy will be recovered and activated with these agreements.”Article 19She said the state will maintain a technical table between the national government, industry, and investors with the oil chambers “so that we continue guaranteeing employment and national suppliers have an important space for participation as established by the law.”“Each contract will require where its national supplier is and how many Venezuelan workers. We will be very attentive to monitoring that Article 19 of the Organic Hydrocarbons Law becomes a reality, because that reality is the benefit of everyone.”Investors with legal securityShe also highlighted that the Hydrocarbons Law guarantees legal security for investors. “Investors in our country have absolute legal security, with an arbitration regime for dispute resolution adapted to the law,” she said.Oil output in Zulia rose from 70,000 to 370,000 barrels per day“We came from producing 70,000 barrels per day, and now we are at 370,000 barrels per day. Today, one of the alliances of the binational company broke a production record: the Petrozamora field broke a production record, and that production goes to the benefit of our people and can be translated into services, wages, health, food,” announced Rodríguez.She projected that Zulia will close the year with 400,000 barrels per day of production, affirming that in 2027, it will become a liquefied gas producer. “We said it: we are going to produce gas to guarantee the domestic life of the country, residential, industrial, and commercial life, but also to export gas molecules from Venezuela,” she added.During her remarks, she acknowledged the electricity problems affecting the country, saying she is in daily contact with Energy Minister Rolando Alcalá and Zulia state Governor Luis Caldera.She immediately explained that all oil contracts contemplate “self-generation for those fields, so that the remaining electrical service is guaranteed for the population of the state and of the country.”Investments for the countryAfter noting that “great investments are coming” for the country, Rodríguez predicted that in five years, “investment will be almost $76 billion. Those investments will translate into direct benefit for our country. In a win-win alliance because our partner will also be favored.”She emphasized that both the binational agreement signed with the US, “which is a historic agreement, with 17 fields signed,” and the rest of the 61 agreements, “have been thought of looking to the future, giving hope to our country, thinking of the boys and girls of our homeland and that those investments translate into concrete happiness, into the daily life of Venezuelan men and women.”It is worth recalling that oil production registered a recent increase of 8% and reliable pumping above 1.2 million barrels per day in the third quarter of 2026. This information was announced by Petróleos de Venezuela, PDVSA, on social media.Acting President Delcy Rodríguez Presents Overview of Care for Families Affected by June 24 Double EarthquakeAccording to PDVSA, the company has been reinforced by the recovery of infrastructure, equipment, and spare parts that “guarantee reliability in all our processes.” This action translates into the incorporation of “new drills, equipment, and technologies available in fields to recover wells and develop greenfield projects.”For over a decade, illegal US sanctions, along with multibillion-dollar corruption scandals, affected the Venezuelan leading oil company and hurt the Venezuelan economy. (DiarioVea) by Yuleidys Hernández ToledoTranslation: Orinoco TribuneOT/JRE/SF