In a virtual interview from Caracas, broadcast on Venezolana de Television, the vice president emphasized that the Bolivarian Republic and the Slavic nation possess 24 percent of the planet’s energy, while the latter is the largest gas power, followed by Iran and Qatar, with 51 percent of the reserves.

“Perhaps that explains one of the main reasons why the United States, in particular, wants to seize the planet’s hydrocarbons,” she emphasized, adding that the northern power is only trying to “maintain its hegemonic dominance in the face of the new world being built,” with the BRICS group at the forefront.

In the opinion of the Bolivarian Minister of Hydrocarbons, the events with Ukraine and NATO’s proposed expansionism toward Russia’s border “had (has) the energy objective of displacing Russia from the European gas market.”

She acknowledged that the changes in geopolitics and energy matrixes around the world are constantly evolving, as reflected in the “Fuerza Siberia Dos” gas pipeline project between Russia and China, which will guarantee gas supplies to Asian countries.”

Rodriguez emphasized that Venezuela has the largest gas reserves in Latin America and the Caribbean, the eighth largest in the world, and now, in the process of quantifying them, it could be the “fourth largest” on the planet, thus becoming the 23rd largest producer and 27th largest consumer.

She highlighted the recent approval by the National Assembly and signing by President Nicolas Maduro of the Strategic Partnership and Cooperation Treaty Law with Russia, which will consolidate “the strategic energy relationship and project it toward a happy future for both peoples in defense of sovereignty.”

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