Page 4 - LatAmOil Week 48 2022

LatAmOil COMMENTARY LatAmOil

El Aissami (L) and La Rosa (R), shown in Caracas on November 29 (Photo: Twitter/@TareckPSUV)
US grants Chevron partial waiver

from sanctions on Venezuela

The Treasury Department has authorised the US major to resume oil production at existing JV projects

NEARLY four years have passed since Nicolas Venezuelan crude oil to Europe without any risk
Maduro won another term as the president of of sanctions penalties.
WHAT: Venezuela. He secured that term in an election According to previous reports, Eni began
OFAC has issued GL 41, that was marked by widespread allegations of taking advantage of that green light in the sec-
which grants Chevron fraud, and the US government, then headed ond quarter of the year. In the first round of
permission to restart oil by President Donald Trump, responded by deliveries, which occurred in June and July, it
production in Venezuela. declaring opposition leader Juan Guaido to be sent no less than 3.6mn barrels of diluted crude
Venezuela’s rightful leader and then imposing oil (DCO) to Europe. (It swapped 3mn bar-
WHY: sanctions on the country’s petroleum industry. rels, or more than 83% of the total, with Spain’s
The deal was struck after The sanctions regime then outlasted Trump Repsol, which owns complex refineries that are
the Maduro administra-
tion and the Venezuelan and remained in place after Joe Biden assumed more capable of handling this heavy feedstock.)
opposition returned to the US presidency in early 2021. Even though The second round of deliveries then began in
Mexico City for talks on the new administration did not have the same November.
elections. degree of hostility to Maduro, who favours the
Bolivarian socialist precepts espoused by his OFAC issues GL 41
WHAT NEXT: predecessor Hugo Chavez, it did not rush to lift And now, there has been an even bigger devel-
Chevron is showing more the restrictions on investment and trading in opment with respect to sanctions relief. On
caution, as officials Venezuelan oil, gas and fuels. November 26, the US government announced
in Caracas seeking to However, the Biden team does appear to have that it had granted Chevron permission to
eliminate restrictions on seen the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a rea- restart oil production in Venezuela.
compensation to PdVSA. son to reconsider policy toward Caracas. Some The US Treasury Department unveiled the
officials in Washington suggested earlier this new policy in a statement on November 26,
year that PdVSA, Venezuela’s national oil com- saying in a statement that the Office of Foreign
pany (NOC), be given permission to ramp up Asset Control (OFAC) had issued a document
oil production and exports in order to compen- known as Venezuela General License (GL) 41 to
sate for the removal or redirection of Russian Chevron. Under this document, it said, the US
crude supplies from their traditional markets, major may resume activities and operations in
for example. Venezuela – but only those related to its exist-
Others took the more concrete step of ing joint ventures with PdVSA, not to any new
authorising Eni (Italy) to resume shipments of projects.

P4 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 48 30•November•2022