Treasury: US grants license for oil and gas exploration in Venezuela

The?U.S. The?U.S.

Washington has eased sanctions against Venezuela's oil industry that were first imposed by the United States in 2019. Since U.S. troops captured President Nicolas Maduro at the beginning of January, Washington has relaxed its sanctions. The government of interim president Delcy Rodriguez then agreed on a $2 billion oil deal with Washington. Oil drillers need U.S. approval to use specialized equipment and import rigs needed to?expand Venezuela's oil production, which is currently around 1 million barrels a day (bpd).

Licenses mandate that all contracts for authorized transactions with Venezuelan government or the state energy company PDVSA follow U.S. laws, and any disputes must be settled in the United States. It adds that payments to any sanctioned entities must be made in a U.S. overseen fund.

The license states that it does not allow "the formation or operation of any new joint ventures in Venezuela for the exploration or production of oil or gas."

Authorization is granted for transactions to maintain oil and gas operations including repairs of equipment used in exploration or production.

U.S. officials drafted a 'ambitious $100 billion reconstruction program for the country’s oil industry. This plan is expected to allow foreign producers to expand and attract new players, such as oil service providers.

Washington granted several general licenses to facilitate oil imports, exports, and storage from Venezuela.

Many of PDVSA's?partners, customers, and producers, such as Chevron, Repsol, ENI and refiner Reliance Industries have applied for individual licenses in order to increase output or exports.

Sources have stated that the large number of individual requests to the U.S. Government had slowed down progress on plans to increase exports and to get investment flowing quickly into the country. Sources: (Reporting and editing by Nathan Crooks, Lincoln Feast, and Marianna Pararaga.)

(source: Reuters)