• Interim President Delcy Rodríguez is in the U.S. for high-stakes talks with President Trump on energy, debt, and mining, with agreements possible.
  • The discussions follow a recent energy accord and could unlock billions in investment and restructuring deals, but key terms remain murky.
  • Major oil companies and creditors are watching closely as Venezuela seeks to revive its battered economy.

Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, is leading a delegation to the United States this week for a series of high-level meetings aimed at deepening the diplomatic and commercial reopening between the two countries, according to people familiar with the matter. The talks, which are set to cover energy, debt restructuring, and mining, could result in new agreements, though officials cautioned that negotiations are ongoing and nothing has been finalized.

Rodríguez is scheduled to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump in New York, marking their first in-person encounter since the January removal of former president Nicolás Maduro. The meeting underscores a rapid thaw in relations that has already produced a late-August energy accord designed to bring American capital and operators into Venezuela’s dilapidated oil sector.

The delegation’s agenda is ambitious. On energy, discussions will focus on implementing and expanding oil-sector arrangements, including further foreign investment. Debt talks will explore a pathway for restructuring Venezuela and state oil company PDVSA’s massive outstanding obligations, which include claims from past expropriations. Mining agreements, particularly around gold extraction and exports, are also on the table, along with potential arrangements for Venezuela’s overseas gold reserves.

Several concrete deals have already been inked in recent weeks. Continental Resources and PDVSA signed a memorandum of understanding to explore development of the Ayacucho 2 block in the Orinoco Belt. Heeney Capital, a New York-based investment firm, received operational and export rights connected to a Venezuelan gold mine. And on September 19, TotalEnergies (TTE) signed an energy-cooperation MOU with PDVSA, joining Chevron (CVX), Eni (E), GE Vernova (GEV), and other foreign participants in the reopening.

Separately, Venezuelan authorities and an opposition faction are reportedly nearing an arrangement to move about $4 billion of gold from the Bank of England to the United States, potentially placing it at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York or under U.S. Treasury administration. That move could provide a liquidity buffer for the cash-strapped government, but it also raises questions about sovereignty and control.

The stakes are enormous. Venezuela sits atop the world’s largest proven crude reserves, yet years of underinvestment, sanctions, and operational decay have crippled output. The new negotiations are less about discovering resources than about securing the financing, governance, and legal certainty needed to produce and sell them. U.S. officials have framed the project as capable of drawing close to $100 billion in private investment, while Venezuela has cited more than $200 billion in potential state revenue. Those figures are ambitions, not guarantees.

A critical hurdle is debt. Creditors’ claims, arbitration awards, and defaulted bonds can deter investment if new cash flows are vulnerable to attachment. ConocoPhillips (COP), for instance, is reportedly withholding reentry discussions pending recovery of roughly $11 billion in expropriation-related claims. How the restructuring is designed will largely determine which companies return and under what protections.

The gold element adds another layer of complexity. Externally held bullion could fund stabilization or creditor settlements, but U.S. control over access to those funds would make its governance politically sensitive. Critics argue that interim authorities may lack the democratic mandate to award long-duration rights over oil and mining assets, and the lack of published agreement texts has only intensified those concerns.

Rodríguez has sought to reassure skeptics, stating that Venezuela retains sovereignty over its resources and describing a 25-year framework for oil concessions, contrasting with U.S. descriptions of long-term preferential purchasing arrangements. The full agreement has not been publicly released.

For now, the most likely immediate outcomes are further memoranda of understanding and implementation agreements rather than a rapid surge in oil production. Projects in the Orinoco Belt, mining concessions, and the prospective gold transfer could advance first because they have already been publicly reported. But key near-term tests remain: whether the Rodríguez-Trump meeting yields signed, public agreements; whether debt restructuring terms are credible; and whether the U.S. clarifies sanctions, licensing, and investment protections.

Requests for comment from the Venezuelan government and PDVSA were not immediately returned. A U.S. State Department spokesperson declined to comment on the specifics of the talks but said the administration remains committed to supporting a democratic transition in Venezuela.

Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated the amount of gold reserves reportedly being moved. It is approximately $4 billion, not $4 million.