As foreign minister and vice president under former Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, interim Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez helped build many of Venezuela’s relationships with American adversaries, including Russia and China. Despite facing pressure from Washington to orient toward the West, Rodríguez is utilizing her experience to reinvigorate old relationships with middle powers. Her efforts may be made more effective by Venezuela’s reinvigorated oil economy showing signs of growth.
Rodríguez landed in India on June 3, where she met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, cabinet ministers, and business conglomerates. The goal of this trip was reportedly to increase energy ties and expand crude oil exports, and the Trump administration has backed the effort as it looks to wean Delhi off Russian oil. Given the rapid success of this partnership—Venezuela went from exporting zero barrels per day to India in January to exporting 427,000 barrels per day in May—the trip may have been intended to celebrate and cement this relationship.
After her four-day tour of India, Rodríguez flew to Istanbul to meet with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Recep Erdogan. Turkey and Venezuela had a history of cooperation under Maduro, who ramped up support for Erdogan after he fended off a coup attempt in 2016. Both countries sought to cooperate despite American sanctions on Venezuela, and they signed energy and gold deals that ran counter to Washington’s interests. Now that the US has lifted many of the sanctions on Venezuela, Rodríguez has picked up where her predecessor left off; she walked away from the meeting with Erdogan with a tacit agreement to raise bilateral trade from $448 million to $3 billion.
India and the United States have largely replaced Caracas’s former top oil customer, China. Venezuela exported 952,000 bpd total in November 2025 before the US launched Operation Southern Spear, which included a total blockade of Venezuelan oil and, eventually, the raid that arrested Maduro in January. 778,000 bpd of those total exports went to China. Venezuelan crude accounted for 4 percent of China’s total imports, refined mostly by independent “teapot” refiners in Shandong. Now, of the approximately 1.25 million barrels of oil Caracas exports daily, around one million goes to the US and India. Nearly all the rest goes to Israel, Italy, and the Netherlands, marking a significant departure from Venezuela’s previously most important trade partner under Maduro.
These emerging partnerships would not be possible if Venezuela were unable to produce oil, its primary export. Since Maduro’s capture by American special operations forces on January 3, Caracas has slowly revamped its oil economy, which had been all but decimated by international sanctions and decades of corruption and mismanagement. In January, Venezuela was exporting less than 400,000 bpd. As of May, it is exporting over 1.25 million bpd, which is still far less than its peak of 3.45 million in 1997.
Sanctions relief and American private investment have aided the recent growth in Venezuela’s oil sector. The American oil company Chevron announced an agreement to expand heavy oil production in its joint venture with Venezuela’s state-run oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). The venture, named Petroindependencia, operates in the petrol-rich Orinoco Oil Belt. The deal seeks to increase output by roughly 50 percent over the next two years, and Chevron was already producing 260,000 bpd before this new deal.
American gas giant Shell is also moving towards a deal with PDVSA to develop the Carito and Pirital oil fields in eastern Venezuela. Shell and Chevron are likely willing to work with the Rodríguez government because of an oil law that Venezuela passed in January, which allows foreign companies to operate and sell the country’s oil.
American oilfield firm SLB also signed a long-term deal with PDVSA to help modernize Venezuela’s mismanaged and archaic oil and gas sector. Oilfield service companies have begun reactivating equipment in Venezuela as new contracts require increased production to meet supply needs. At least nine rigs of 500–1,500 horsepower have reportedly been taken out of storage for assembly or repair, with another five rigs under assessment.
Samuel Ben-Ur is a research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
Tags: china, India, Turkey, US-Venezuela, venezuela
