As tensions in the Middle East disrupt global oil supplies, Venezuela is seeking to leverage its vast petroleum reserves to play a stabilizing role in the world energy market, despite facing strict sanctions from the United States and its allies.
With the ongoing U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict fueling volatility in energy prices, Venezuela is reemerging as a potential key supplier thanks to its significant oil reserves and production capacity. However, analysts cautioned that sanctions continue to restrict the country's ability to respond quickly, even as they describe the current situation as a "last opportunity" for Venezuela to capitalize on its hydrocarbons.
Venezuela currently produces 1.2 million barrels of oil per day, according to OPEC, but has installed capacity for more than three million, as it did during its peak production years. This potential, along with reserves of more than 300 billion barrels, positions the country as a key actor in the face of international price fluctuations.
"It is necessary to diversify sources. Venezuela for a long time was separated, so to speak, due to sanctions from the international market, but now it is an important actor in that sector. And at this moment, any direct barrel of oil is welcome, since we do not know if this conflict will last weeks or months," said Oswaldo Felizzola, Venezuelan energy and environment analyst.
"A geopolitical pivot is a country that has enough capabilities to alter the world situation in its relationship with geo-strategic players and global superpowers. Venezuela qualifies, first because of its history and second because of its energy reserves," said Rodolfo Sanz, an international analyst.
These analysts estimated that Venezuela will not be greatly affected by the price increase, as it is a producing country, even with refining capacity of one million barrels per day. They have taken this as an opportunity for development and growth.
"For Venezuela, this is probably the last opportunity it has in its entire history to be able to monetize its hydrocarbon at the best possible price. It is not that in the future it cannot be monetized, but obviously as those high value-added markets are lost, such as the United States, Europe, which even bought from Venezuela at the best possible price," said Felizzola.
"An important opportunity requires investment. It requires, of course, cash flow that allows PDVSA [Venezuela's state-owned oil company] to activate all its operational capacity so that in the medium and short term we can increase oil production which, according to the plan designed by our [former] commander [President] Hugo Chavez, should be no less than five million barrels per day," said Sanz.
Other analysts pointed out that due to the sanctions, Venezuela does not have the capacity to respond to this demand in the short term, but in the medium and long term, it will once again be a leading actor.
Venezuela continues to demand the lifting of sanctions to allow the normal operation of its oil industry and the strengthening of its energy sector.
Venezuela seeks to be energy balancer amid U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict
At the 2026 Zhongguancun Forum, ongoing in Beijing, global guests are engaging in a diverse range of topics that connect with them both personally and professionally, from food science and sleep technology to the future of AI and digital privacy.
The five-day forum opened on Wednesday and has attracted over 1,000 guests from more than 100 countries and regions to exchange views under the theme of "Full Integration Between Technological and Industrial Innovation". Their diversity is reflected in their wide-ranging views on emerging technologies and scientific advancements.
Some of the guests have come eager to discuss the compelling ideas behind their own businesses. Samuel Godefroy, president and COO of the Global Food Regulatory Science Society, said that food should be seen as the foundation of health and Chinese traditions offer a wealth of knowledge that could inform future food product development worldwide.
"We consider in fact that health starts with food. It's not with medicines, and probably the best medicine is in our food, and there is a tremendous wealth of experience, of knowledge, but also of ingredients that we can harness in Chinese traditions and potentially that could inform the future of development of food products in China and in other parts of the world," said Godefroy.
Renata Redondo Bonaldi, co-founder and CEO of SleepUp Technology, put her attention on the growing challenge of sleep disorders, saying that the demand for accessible solutions to sleep disorders is rising.
"I think we are living now in a very dynamic world where we are sleeping less. So we see a lot of industries, companies and healthcare providers looking for solutions that would prevent sleep disorder and that would treat and diagnose in a more accessible, affordable, and cheaper way at home, so people don't need to go to hospitals to do it. We see big opportunities to apply our technology in the industry, so we are very excited and looking forward to finding industry partners and customers," she said.
For others, the appeal of the gathering is to learn about these and other cutting-edge ideas that are finding applications in the real world.
More than 560 cutting-edge scientific and technological achievements and products have been showcased at the forum. The intelligence zone, featuring robots performing everyday tasks from sorting packages to threading needles, drew the biggest crowds. Technical solutions in frontier fields, such as automatic implantation of invasive brain-computer interface surgeries, also attracted flocks of visitors.
Yuan Jinyun, a mathematician and academician at the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, voiced both excitement and concern about artificial intelligence.
"Nowadays, artificial intelligence is developing rapidly in various industries, especially in the medical field. I'm very excited about it and I hope to learn some new things. AI is developing so fast. In the future, it's possible that artificial intelligence will guide itself. I have a pessimistic view that we will all eventually become the pets of robots," Yuan said.
Anxieties about digital privacy also surfaced alongside discussions of technological innovation at the forum. Jean Zimmermann, general manager of airport advertising company JCDecaux Airport, said he avoids sharing personal data online.
"I'm very curious to hear what the participants will be sharing about privacy. I'm actually very cautious about everything that's cloud, that's online. I personally share nothing on my social media because I think that many people don't really grasp yet that everything that you share will be there forever," said Zimmermann.
"In France, we say to live happy, you need to live in hiding. So I think in general protection of privacy is a key topic," he added.
Founded in 2007, the Zhongguancun Forum has evolved into a global, comprehensive open and high-level international event for enhancing global innovation in science and technology.
Guests at Zhongguancun Forum engage in diverse topics, from sleep health to privacy protection
