Speaking at the 9th International Seminar of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, currently in session in Vienna, the vice president responded to a question that the sector must guarantee future energy supplies and ensure that these provisions are accessible.

She noted that we cannot talk about investment, security, or accessibility “if we cannot guarantee that the people of the planet and the Global South have secure access to energy.”

This access, she noted, must mitigate the effects of the climate emergency the planet is experiencing, as recently happened in Texas and New Mexico, with more than 100 deaths and missing people, and floods in Europe and the global South.

Rodriguez affirmed that the energy transition must be balanced and stated that the $2.2 trillion invested in renewable energy will not guarantee zero carbon emissions by 2050. “There is no guarantee, and half of that amount is spent on fossil fuels,” she noted.

She stated that 26 percent of the world’s oil production is currently under unilateral coercive measures, and 46 percent of the world’s oil reserves are also under this condition. The Venezuelan Minister of Hydrocarbons asked how to guarantee investment where geopolitics “has a significant influence” and stated that Venezuela is subject to 1,041 unilateral coercive measures, resulting in an “economic war against the country, focused primarily on the hydrocarbon sector.”

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