Venezuela adopted a reform opening its nationalised oil sector to private investment on Thursday as it moves to appease the United States following the toppling of leader Nicolas Maduro.

The South American country's parliament adopted reforms to a hydrocarbons bill that in 2006 expanded state control over its vast oil resources and limited private participation.

"Only good things will come after suffering," Jorge Rodriguez – head of parliament and brother of Venezuela's new acting president Delcy Rodriguez – said as the law was gavelled through "for history, for the future."

The acting president also hailed the move as a "historical leap."

"We are taking important steps," Rodriguez said after a call with US President Donald Trump.

Shortly after the the bill was adopted, Washington eased sanctions on Venezuela's oil industry, expanding the ability of US companies to operate in the country.

The US Treasury Department greenlit a range of activities by US energy companies,allowing transactions relating to "the lifting, exportation, re-exportation, sale, resale, supply, storage, marketing, purchase, delivery, or transportation of Venezuelan-origin oil."

The activities authorised include the refining of oil, the license said.

Since toppling Maduro in a deadly military operation early this month, Washington has put pressure on Caracas for access to Venezuela's proven oil reserves – the biggest in the world.

Trump has said Washington is now "in charge" of Venezuela and Rodriguez would be "turning over" millions of barrels of oil to be sold at market price.

Rodriguez, who was Maduro's vice president, replaced him for an interim period, and was quick to sign oil agreements with the Trump administration.

She must now sign the reform, which she had proposed herself, into law.

Venezuela sits on about a fifth of the world's oil reserves.

It was once a major crude supplier to the United States, and multiple American firms operated in the country until 2007, when state control was tightened by socialist leader Hugo Chavez.

Venezuela's oil industry is undergoing a slow recovery after years of underinvestment, corruption, mismanagement, and US sanctions in place since 2019.

It reached production of 1.2 million barrels per day in 2025, a milestone compared to the 300,000 million extracted in 2020, but far from the 3.0 million achieved at the start of the century.

Trump, who has shown a willingness to work with Rodriguez and her government despite all being Maduro allies, has been pressing oil executives to invest in Venezuela.

Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips exited in 2007 after refusing to cede majority control to the state under Chavez.

Chevron has been the only US firm operating in Venezuela, under a special sanctions exemption license.

The revised law offers greater guarantees to private players, relinquishes state control of exploration, and lowers taxes.

It authorises private firms to exploit, distribute, and market oil without state participation, and to transfer assets to other private entities.

Taxes will be limited to a single contribution of no more than 15 percent on gross income, and royalties limited to 30 percent.

"This obviously completely dismantles Hugo Chavez's oil model," said oil analyst Francisco Monaldi, while pointing out that the state will retain some discretion over the issuing of contracts to private players.

The US Department of Energy has already unveiled a plan to develop Venezuela's oil industry and has begun marketing Venezuelan crude.

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright has said Washington will control the sales of Venezuelan oil "indefinitely."

Earlier this month, Rodriguez said her country has received US$300 million from a US sale of Venezuelan crude that would be used to prop up her country's battered currency, the bolivar.

Rodriguez has said the law reform would result in money for "new fields, to fields where there has never been investment, and to fields where there is no infrastructure." (AFP)