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The President of the United States, Donald Trump, lifted the sanctions on Venezuela's oil this Friday and officially opened the door for the return of major energy multinationals to the South American country.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued a general license authorizing companies such as Repsol, Chevron, BP, Eni, and Shell to reactivate their operations in exploration, production, and marketing of crude oil and gas, noted El Mundo.
The measure represents the greatest easing of the sanctions regime imposed in 2019 and comes following the capture of Nicolás Maduro on January 3, in a military operation ordered by Trump that completely changed the Venezuelan political landscape.
Since then, Washington has been controlling the transition process and overseeing the main financial flows related to oil.
According to the United States Secretary of Energy, Chris Wright, sales of Venezuelan crude have already generated 1 billion dollars since Maduro's departure, and could reach an additional 5 billion in the coming months.
According to U.S. authorities, those revenues will remain under Washington's oversight until a "representative government" is established in the country.
The decision dispels the regulatory uncertainty that was holding back large international oil companies, despite the positive signals sent by the White House in recent weeks.
Until now, the licenses issued by the U.S. Treasury were limited to trading companies based in the United States, which excluded key European players.
On January 9th, Trump brought together leading executives from the global energy sector at the White House. The CEO of Repsol, Josu Jon Imaz, was the only Spanish attendee and advocated for the need to mobilize at least $100 billion to rescue the struggling Venezuelan oil industry.
In addition to the new political landscape, the measure affects a longstanding debt that Caracas has with several of these companies.
Due to the lack of liquidity of the Venezuelan state, part of those commitments has been compensated with deliveries of crude oil, a formula that could now be expanded with the formal lifting of restrictions.
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