US eases sanctions against Venezuela, allows oil pumping to resume
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Chevron received limited authorization to resume pumping oil from Venezuela
The administration of President Joe Biden decided on Saturday to ease sanctions against the government of Venezuela , headed by Nicolas Maduro, after the start of the regime's negotiations with the opposition.
As part of Biden's decision, his government granted Chevron limited authorization to resume pumping oil from Venezuela following the announcement Saturday that the Venezuelan government and opposition group “Plataforma Unitaria” have begun reaching agreements.
The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control on Saturday issued Venezuela General License 41, which authorizes Chevron to “resume limited natural resource extraction operations in Venezuela,” according to a Treasury Department news release.
The announcement comes after years of sanctions against the Venezuelan regime , which have almost completely reduced the operations of Chevron and other US companies in the South American country.
In early 2022, the Treasury Department again allowed Chevron to perform basic maintenance on wells it jointly operates with Venezuelan state oil giant PDVSA.
Chevron, which has maintained its presence in Venezuela during the sanctions imposed by the United States through a joint venture with PDVSA, confirmed that it will now be able to market the oil it produces in Venezuela and added that it will seek to contribute to social investment in Venezuela.
“We are determined to maintain a constructive presence in the country and continue to support social investment programs aimed at providing humanitarian aid,” Ray Fohr, a Chevron spokesman, said in a statement.
The resumption of negotiations
The talks between the government of Nicolas Maduro and the opposition group the “Unitary Platform” resumed on Saturday in Mexico City after a pause of more than a year.
According to the first information coming out of the negotiations, both parties have reached an agreement on humanitarian aid and will continue negotiating to find a solution to the chronic economic and political crisis in the South American country.