The United States renewed on Tuesday for six months the license granted to four U.S. oil companies to continue their operations in Venezuela, with the embargo imposed in 2019 on Venezuelan crude still in force.
While Halliburton, Schlumberger Limited, Baker Hughes Holdings LLC and Weatherford International are not allowed to drill, buy, sell, transport or ship Venezuelan-origin oil or petroleum products, the license authorizes them until November 19 to carry out “transactions and activities necessary to ensure the safety of personnel or the integrity of operations in Venezuela.
This authorization extended by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Treasury still allows “the payment of local taxes and utilities in Venezuela”, as well as “the payment of employees’ salaries”. Washington imposed an embargo in 2019 on Venezuelan crude and gas, almost all of whose production was going to the US market.
However, since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the White House has reached out to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and eased sanctions against his country, which has some of the world’s largest oil reserves. Energy giant Chevron received a license from OFAC in November to resume operations in the four companies it owns with Venezuelan state-owned giant Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), provided the latter’s profits pay off its debt to Chevron.
European companies such as Italy’s Eni and Spain’s Repsol have also been given the green light to operate in Venezuela under similar conditions.
