To my mind this is the time for the gold to shine in VZ ,taking advantage of the temporary debacle of the oil .

It is now or never ;this time gold is going to supply the means to patch the rocky financial status and add a diversifite income to the nation mainly on employment .

Eventually and not very far down the road oil will be king again for VZ and Chavez will the most talked and controversial leader for the next ten years.

this is why :

Venezuela Tops World Oil Reserves

Caracas, Jan 1 (Prensa Latina) Venezuela started a key year for its economic projects that should be crowned with the evaluation of its reserves to become the world's leading oil producer.

It hopes to confirm 316 billion oil barrels by late 2009, toppling current leader Saudi Arabia with some 266.8 billion barrels.

An October 2006 assessment of over 73.2 billion barrels by state-run Petroleos de Venezuela and foreign counterparts turned Venezuela world runner up with over 152 billion barrels reserves.

That year, Venezuela began the Socialist Project Magna Reserve that measured and certified heavy and extra-heavy oil reserves in Faja del Orinoco, that should round 235.6 billion barrels.

Faja del Orinoco, whose sovereignty was declared in 2008, covers an area of over 34370 sq miles (near 280 miles from East to West and near 25 miles from north to south).

The new assessment is part of a long-term plan to raise daily domestic production from three million to 5.8 million in 2012.

The above relied on measures approved by the National Assembly to improve oil management, namely, making PDVSA majority share holder and establishing joint ventures with the companies that used to control production and trade.