International Oil and Gas Summit: Venezuela’s energy revival needs power and innovation.

From September 28 to 30, 2026, the Venezuelan International Oil and Gas Summit (VIOGS) became one of the first high-level international business gatherings held in Caracas during a year of significant change for Venezuela.

VIOGS brought together more than 600 local and international delegates from 30 countries interested in unlocking Venezuela's potential as an energy hub for the Western Hemisphere. Discussions focused on the practical steps required to restore production, attract capital, and move projects forward in the current energy landscape, shaped by a recently enacted Hydrocarbons Law reform ¹.

As heard in key sessions attended by VZE Economics, further work lies ahead. Local challenges must still be met to attract widespread private investment to the country, such as clearer regulatory frameworks from the State and the dire state of the electricity grid in the country (two blackouts briefly disrupted Tuesday´s sessions at the event´s official venue). 

Speakers also stressed the need to recognize the Venezuelan oil & gas talent, both those working in the diaspora and those who have remained working in the country during the last 25 years. 

“If clients understand that we are a country that has the software — people—to operate, and that its hardware —older infrastructure—is a temporary matter, we shall have excellent results,” remarked Rodolfo Rojas, Director of Troil Services C.A., a Venezuelan onshore drilling company currently based in the Orinoco Oil Belt in southeastern Venezuela, during a seminar about capacity building. 

The event saw representatives from CAF Development Bank of Latin America & The Caribbean, Chevron, Repsol, Siemens Energy, the Venezuelan Petroleum Chamber, Colombia´s Promigas, and the United States Embassy in Caracas, among others. 

Natural gas: power in waiting

The first day of VlOGS hosted the 5^th edition of the Caracas Gas Forum², a yearly meeting organized by faculty members of IESA ³ —Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Administración, Venezuela´s top-rated business school and academic partner of VlOGS—, especially devoted to key topics in the Venezuelan natural gas industry, such as legal framework, regional trade, and sustainability and energy transition. 

Venezuela´s natural gas reserves are the largest⁴ in Latin America and the Caribbean, currently estimated at 200 trillion cubic feet (tcf), according to Luisa Palacios, a leading Venezuelan gas expert, in Americas Quarterly. 

However, as noted by Palacios⁵the country has failed to monetize  these vast resources; at the beginning of the year, 40% of the country’s⁶ 3 bcf/d (billion cubic production was vented or flared by PDVSA (Petróleos de Venezuela, the main state-owned oil and gas company), “an annual opportunity cost of roughly $1 billion in natural gas revenues (using Henry Hub prices).” 

Venezuela´s current gas production primarily supports oil production and meets only a small share of local energy needs due to decades of underinvestment by PDVSA.   “Increasing the country’s utilization of its associated natural gas production will be central to Venezuela’s oil industry, but also to restore the reliability of its power system”, estimated⁷ Columbia University back in January. 

Local natural gas development does not mean starting from zero. “We have the infrastructure already in place, such as an installed fleet of gas turbines of approximately 6,000 MW,” said César Dacchille, Technical Sales Support for Power Generation at Siemens Energy Venezuela⁸, during the Caracas Gas Forum introductory remarks. “Currently, half of it is operational; the other half is not”, according to Dachille.

The country has a spectacular advantage: unlike its neighbors, local gas reservoirs are mostly located within Venezuelan territory, remarked Federico Fernández⁹, an IESA faculty member and founder of OTEPI Renovables, a Panama-based clean energy firm. 

An open door for cleaner energies

Gas-to-power initiatives hold special potential as an energy source for Venezuela´s electricity needs, especially looking toward the next 10 years. Under the new Hydrocarbons law, every operator must generate its own energy source, without compromising the national grid. 

Gas-to-power and renewables integration can quickly improve the Venezuelan electrification challenges

“Our destiny [as a country] is a decentralized mixed matrix of energy sources that incorporates as many renewables as economically viable, besides LNG solutions, as it happens in Latin American neighbors,” said Fernández. Solar energy and stored batteries can mean a swift turn for Venezuela´s energy outlook. 

A key milestone to achieve widespread investment for renewables and gas-to-power initiatives will be the approval of the proposed reform of the electricity law by the Venezuelan National Assembly (parliament), he remarked.  

Professor Fernández, who has acted as an advisor to lawmakers on the contents of the reform, showed optimism about its contents regarding private investment and the electricity sector.

A path to integration

To harness more possibilities for gas clean energy in Venezuela, stakeholders should engage in dialogue (academia, companies, and the government) and have easier access to funding sources. Training and updating human resources on new technologies and addressing workforce resistance, recommended by Siemens Energy´s César Dachille. 

Siemens Energy is currently working with the Delcy Rodríguez-led administration to rehabilitate the Venezuelan national grid. 

Another unavoidable local issue to be discussed in the upcoming years will be related to electricity tariffs, said Carlos Hinestrosa, Director of Fuels and LNG Development for InterEnergy.

“Venezuelan consumers currently pay about $0.03-$0.05 per kilowatt-hour (kWh). Tariffs should be set around $0.12-0.14 per kWh, but such rates remain unaffordable for many Venezuelans at present. To further sector development, we should at least aim for a $0.08 per kWh tariff in the near future,” recommended Hinestrosa.

This story is part of VZE´s VlOGS 2026 coverage. VlOGS was organized by Global Energy Partners¹⁰, a London-based firm specializing in energy events, with thematic and academic support from Gas Energy Latin America¹¹ (GELA) and IESA. 

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