Page 4 - EurOil Week 21 2022

EurOil COMMENTARY EurOil

Is Venezuela Europe’s answer for

the loss of Russian oil?

The US government appears to be moving towards loosening restrictions on trade with Venezuela,

at least partly out of a desire to address disruptions on the European oil market

EUROPE AS NewsBase has noted, the US government is Cilia Adela Flores de Maduro, from the US
reported to be moving towards loosening the Treasury Department’s list of sanctioned indi-
WHAT: restrictions placed on trade with Venezuela. viduals. It will also permit Chevron to negotiate
More reports have One source familiar with the matter told its operating licence with PdVSA, though this
emerged indicating that Bloomberg last week that Washington was look- permission will not extend to any drilling or
Washington is looking to ing to lift some of the sanctions placed on Ven- production activities, they stated. (They spoke
soften sanctions policy. ezuela’s national oil company (NOC) PdVSA. to AP on condition of anonymity, as no formal
According to the source, the policy shift aims to announcements have yet been made on changes
WHY: facilitate crude exports to foreign markets, espe- in US policy.)
The US aims to facilitate cially by Eni (Italy) and Repsol (Spain), while More recently, Reuters has said that Chevron
talks between Maduro also allowing the US major Chevron to rene- will see its licence to operate in Venezuela rein-
and the opposition, but gotiate its Venezuelan licences and smoothing stated very soon. Four people close to the talks
it is also keen to see the way toward negotiations between President told the news agency on May 24 that the Treas-
Venezuela produce more Nicolas Maduro’s administration and the Vene- ury Department was preparing to renew the
oil that can be exported zuelan political opposition. licence, even though it probably would not agree
to Europe. Other newswires have issued similar reports. to grant permission to operate on the expanded
The Associated Press, for example, quoted two terms that the oil company had requested.
WHAT NEXT: senior US officials as saying last week that the
PdVSA is not in a position administration of US President Joe Biden was US politicians react
to have much of an making some limited revisions to the sanctions It remains to be seen how quickly these changes
impact on European regime in order to ease the path toward nego- take hold.
crude markets, but it tiations between Caracas and the Venezuelan More than a week has passed since AP and
would stir interest if it opposition. Bloomberg went public with reports on the
returned to the USGC Specifically, the officials said, the Biden possibility of a policy shift, and the US govern-
region amidst a broader administration will remove Carlos Erik Mal- ment has made no official announcements on
shift in global trade flows pica-Flores, PdVSA’s former vice president of this front. (Venezuela’s Vice President Delcy
finance and a nephew of Venezuela’s first lady Rodriguez, by contrast, posted a statement on

P4 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 21 27•May•2022