USA rolls back oil sanctions on Venezuela

The USA has significantly eased sanctions on Venezuela’s oil sector due to guarantees agreed by the local government for an election in the South American country in 2024, Reuters reported on Thursday.

The new licence allows Venezuela to produce, sell and export oil for six months with no limitations.

It also lifts a secondary trading ban on some Venezuelan sovereign bonds and NOC Petróleos de Venezuela’s (PDVSA’s) debt and equity.

A sanction to halt trade on the primary Venezuelan bond market remains in place.

A deal reached between the current Venezuelan administration and the opposition on Tuesday allows each party to choose its 2024 candidate.

However, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has given Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro until November to lift bans on further opposition runners in the election and release political prisoners and wrongfully detained American citizens.

According to the US Treasury Department, bans will be reinstated should further action not be taken.

The USA imposed sanctions on Venezuela following Maduro’s election in 2018.

The North American giant had also banned Venezuela’s PDVSA from exporting oil to international markets from 2019.

Earlier in October, Trinidad and Tobago began price negotiations for natural gas imports from Venezuela following signing a profit-sharing agreement in September 2023 to jointly develop the Dragon field.

The Dragon field, which sits in Venezuela’s territorial waters, is believed to contain 4.2 tcf (118.94 bcm) of natural gas.