- MONEDA
The central bank published the plan Ortega presented to the IMF: the bolívar would cover all domestic transactions and the dollar would be left to foreign trade.
Inflación de septiembre: 8,4% mensual · meta: dos dígitos, sin fecha · FMI para 2027: 174,7%
affects companies that bill in dollars inside the country, and banks
- INSTITUCIONAL
The third round of talks opened in Caracas, and that day OFAC removed Jorge Rodríguez, head of the government's delegation, from its sanctions list.
Designados juntos en 2018: 4 · fuera de la lista: 2 · siguen: Cilia Flores y Padrino López
affects US banks and companies that deal with the Venezuelan state
- PETRÓLEO
NABEP is deploying 11 well workover rigs and received two drilling rigs for its 17 fields.
Taladros nuevos: 2 · activos en todo el país en septiembre, según la OPEP: 2 · reacondicionamiento: 11
affects oilfield service contractors and PDVSA
The document the central bank published after the IMF panel puts in writing where it wants to take the currency of domestic contracts: to the bolívar, with the dollar reserved for foreign trade. It is the goal that weighs most for anyone who sells, runs a payroll or lends in Venezuela, and also the one that comes with the least timetable. The condition is two-digit inflation; September closed at 8.4% a month and the IMF projects a 174.7% average for 2027. The piece Ortega did put close at hand is the debt sustainability analysis, due "very soon" after having been planned for June. If it comes with an inflation-targeting framework, the plan will have an anchor that can be measured; if it comes with the debt alone, remonetization will remain a goal.
Venezuela's crude production capacity that can be reached within 90 days and sustained for an extended period, according to the OPEC+ table in the IEA's October 2026 report.
The International Energy Agency estimates Venezuela produced 1.16 million barrels a day in August and in September, and puts its sustainable capacity at 1.12 million: the country is pumping above what the agency considers sustainable and has no spare capacity. Venezuela reported 1.206 million to OPEC for September, and OPEC's secondary sources estimate 1.15. All three series agree that the month's increase was small. PDVSA's target of 1.5 million by end-2027 starts from that base, and with capacity at that level every additional barrel requires repaired or newly drilled wells.
On October 14, at the IMF meetings in Bangkok, Venezuela's economy chief presented a plan under which the bolívar would cover 100% of domestic transactions.
Calixto Ortega, Venezuela's economy chief and governor to the IMF, spoke on Wednesday the 14th at a panel on Venezuela with Nigel Chalk, director of the Fund's Western Hemisphere Department. According to the note the central bank published, the plan rests on four pillars, including bringing inflation down to two digits and restructuring the debt, and it foresees a gradual remonetization in which the local currency covers 100% of domestic transactions. Ortega said dollarization is not the answer and that the debt sustainability analysis will come out "very soon."
Banco Central de Venezuela ↗Inflación de septiembre: 8,4% mensual · FMI 2026: 467,9% · FMI 2027: 174,7% · Títulos de Cobertura 13 y 14-oct: Bs 11.930 M · análisis de la deuda: previsto para junio, ahora «muy pronto»The plan ties remonetization to progress on monetary stability and on reconnecting with the banking system abroad, with no deadline. The central bank's tools already push that way: since September 15 it pays interest on all bolívar deposits, and it placed about 11.93 billion bolívars in hedging securities at the auctions of October 13 and 14. Missing is the inflation-targeting framework Ortega announced for the medium term.
Creditors waiting for the restructuring proposal: Ortega called it a priority and said the sustainability analysis was "almost ready" before the June earthquakes.
Companies that set prices and wages in dollars inside the country: the plan makes them the target of remonetization without setting a rule or a date yet.
INDICADORPublication of the debt sustainability analysis and the macroeconomic framework Ortega promises "very soon." · Sin fecha; el Gobierno lo había previsto para junio de 2026.
On October 14 the third round of talks began in Caracas, and that same day OFAC removed Jorge Rodríguez, Assembly president and head of the government's delegation, from its list.
The government's representatives and the delegation of former deputies from the 2015 National Assembly opened the third round of talks in Caracas on Wednesday the 14th, with no statement at the end of the day. Washington set the agenda on October 9: completing the Supreme Court selection and providing participation guarantees for credible elections; reform of the electoral council is left for future rounds. That same day, OFAC removed Jorge Rodríguez, National Assembly president and head of the government's delegation, from its sanctions list, without publishing a reason.
OFAC / Asamblea Nacional ↗Fuera de la lista: Jorge Rodríguez (14-oct) y Delcy Rodríguez (1-abr) · siguen: Cilia Flores y Padrino López · designados juntos en 2018: 4 · comunicado de la ronda: ningunoThe Treasury designated Jorge Rodríguez on September 25, 2018, together with Delcy Rodríguez, Cilia Flores and Vladimir Padrino López. Of those four, the two who now head the state and its negotiating table have come off the list: Delcy Rodríguez on April 1 and Jorge Rodríguez on October 14, each in a separate action and with no reason published. Flores, on trial in New York, and Padrino remain sanctioned, as do Diosdado Cabello and Tarek William Saab.
Jorge Rodríguez and his US counterparts: off the list, American banks and companies can deal with the head of the government's delegation without an OFAC license.
The delegation of former 2015 deputies: the sanction on its counterpart was lifted on the first day of the round, before any agreed text and with no published condition.
INDICADORThe first signed document of the third round: an agreement on participation guarantees or on the screening of Supreme Court candidates. · Sin fecha; la Comisión Preliminar llevaría la lista de elegibles a la plenaria la semana del 19 de octubre de 2026.
NABEP announced on October 13 that it is deploying 11 well workover rigs and that on October 7 it received two 1,500-horsepower drilling rigs.
North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP), based in Barbados and holding production contracts for 17 fields in Lake Maracaibo and the Orinoco Belt, announced on Tuesday the 13th that it is deploying 11 new 550-horsepower well workover rigs and that on October 7 it received two 1,500-horsepower drilling rigs. It says it has also bought 60 rigs, 30 steam boilers and 70 pieces of heavy machinery. Its chief executive, Alejandro Betancourt, said there is no better partner than the US government.
NABEP ↗Reacondicionamiento: 11 equipos · perforación: 2 taladros, llegados el 7-oct · taladros activos en Venezuela en septiembre (OPEP): 2 · producción comunicada, septiembre: 1,206 MMb/dWorkover rigs bring existing wells back into production, the quickest way to add barrels; drilling rigs open new wells. In September OPEC counted two active rigs in all of Venezuela, so NABEP's two, once operating, would double that count. The company says it went from about 18,000 to more than 200,000 barrels a day in two years; Venezuela reported 1.206 million to OPEC for September, 5,000 more than in August.
Oilfield equipment and service suppliers in the US and Venezuela: NABEP says it works with Venezuelan crews and vendors from both countries, and expects more equipment soon.
Operators of the country's other fields, PDVSA included: the equipment arriving is for NABEP's 17 fields, in a country with two active rigs in September.
INDICADORThe active rig count and Venezuela's October output in OPEC's monthly report, by direct communication and by secondary sources. · Informe mensual de la OPEP de noviembre de 2026.
HOW OUR CALLS ARE DOING
indicators we issued in earlier editionsOn October 12 we set out to watch whether the list of the 12 civil-society representatives reached the National Assembly floor on Thursday the 15th, as its timetable set.
The Preliminary Commission extended interviews with the 127 applicants to Friday the 16th and said the list "could" go to the floor the following week: the September 30 timetable slips by a week, the round's first delay.