Page 9 - LatAmOil Week 05 2021

LatAmOil VENEZUEL A LatAmOil

Chevron has been active in Venezuela since the 1920s (Image: Chevron)

Chevron, Reliance reportedly seeking

partial roll-back of Venezuela sanctions

CHEVRON (US) and Reliance Industries and other entities involved in the oil sector it
(India) have reportedly asked the US govern- received a number of waivers that allowed it to
ment to lift some of the existing restrictions on continue doing business in that country.
trade with Venezuela. Last year, though, the Trump administration
Sources with knowledge of the matter told instructed the company to ramp down its Vene-
Bloomberg last week that representatives of zuelan operations and ordered several US-based
both companies were already in negotiations oilfield services providers – Baker Hughes, Hal-
with the US State Department on a possible liburton, Schlumberger and Weatherford Inter-
roll-back of sanctions imposed by former Presi- national – to do the same. Those instructions
dent Donald Trump in early 2019. The two sides have not been rescinded by the Biden admin-
are conducting virtual meetings to discuss the istration, so all five companies are still obligated
requests for relief, they said, speaking on condi- to roll up their Venezuelan business by June of
tion of anonymity since the talks were not public this year.
knowledge. Meanwhile, the State Department is not
One of the sources reported that Chevron’s yet in a position to deliver an official response
goal was to generate support in Washing- to the requests from Chevron and Reliance. It
ton while reminding the new administration will not be able to do so until the US Senate con-
of President Joe Biden of its commitment to firms new appointees to the positions within
maintaining a presence in the South American the department that wield the relevant deci-
country. He also stated that Reliance had asked sion-making powers, Bloomberg noted. Some
Washington for permission to resume swap of the appointees in question will be assistant
deals, which would allow it to take delivery of secretaries to Anthony Blinken, the new US
crude from Venezuela in exchange for supplying Secretary of State, it explained.
diesel to that country. (The Trump administra- For his part, Blinken has not indicated
tion put a stop to the swaps last October, another whether he favours keeping the sanctions in
source noted.) place in their current form. Earlier this week,
As of press time, neither Reliance nor the the Biden administration signalled that it would
State Department had confirmed Bloomberg’s continue its predecessor’s policy of recognising
report. When contacted by the news agency, opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s
Chevron spokesman Ray Fohr said only that his legitimate president.
company held regular discussions with US gov- Trump imposed sanctions shortly after
ernment agencies in order to make certain that Guaido claimed the post of interim president on
it understood the relevant laws and remained in the grounds that President Nicolas Maduro had
compliance. used fraudulent means to secure re-election in
December 2018. (He also stated repeatedly that
US sanctions policy his goal was to drive Maduro and his socialist
Chevron has been active in Venezuela for nearly regime out of power by depriving it of oil rev-
a century, and after the imposition of sanctions enues; Biden, by contrast, has not explicitly
on the national oil company (NOC) PdVSA sought Maduro’s removal.) ™

Week 05 04•February•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P9