WASHINGTON: The Trump administration on Thursday eased sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry, authorizing US companies to buy, sell, transport, store, and refine Venezuelan crude oil in a move aimed at boosting global supply and tightening Washington’s control over the country’s energy revenues.
The decision, issued by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), allows American firms to engage in most commercial activities involving Venezuelan-origin oil, though existing restrictions on oil production remain in place.
A White House official said the measure is designed to “help flow existing product” from Venezuela and confirmed that additional sanctions relief would be announced soon, according to the Reuters.
President Donald Trump has said the United States intends to oversee Venezuela’s oil sales and revenues indefinitely following the January 3 US raid in Caracas that led to the capture of President Nicolas Maduro.
Trump has also called for US oil companies to eventually invest up to $100 billion to restore production in the OPEC-member nation after years of underinvestment and mismanagement.
Washington and Caracas have already reached an initial agreement to market 50 million barrels of Venezuelan crude, with European trading houses Vitol and Trafigura handling sales.
The new general license significantly broadens Venezuela’s oil trade—but only for US entities. It authorizes transactions involving Venezuela’s government and state oil company PDVSA related to the lifting, sale, storage, transportation, marketing, and refining of Venezuelan crude. Companies from rival nations including China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and Cuba are explicitly excluded.
During Trump’s first term, the Treasury Department sanctioned Venezuela’s entire energy sector in 2019 after Washington refused to recognize Maduro’s re-election.
The latest license does not permit unconventional payment methods such as debt swaps, gold payments, or transactions denominated in digital currencies.
Oil producers Chevron, Repsol, and ENI, along with refiner Reliance Industries and several US oil service firms, had recently sought licenses to expand exports or output from Venezuela. Any increase in production, however, would still require additional US approvals.
Jeremy Paner, a former OFAC sanctions investigator and now a lawyer at Hughes Hubbard and Reed, said the authorization is broad in scope, covering refining, transportation, and oil lifting, but narrow in application because it applies only to US companies.
Kevin Book, an analyst at ClearView Energy Partners, said the move offers clarity for American firms while preserving strict oversight for others. “In short, it appears to offer ‘America First, Others Ask’ sanctions relief,” he said.
Multiple requests from companies seeking individual exemptions had slowed progress on expanding exports and attracting investment, according to sources. The new license is expected to streamline those efforts.
The move coincides with Venezuela’s National Assembly approving a revised oil law that grants greater autonomy to private producers operating joint ventures or new contracts, allowing them to commercialize output directly. The reform also formalizes a production-sharing model introduced by Maduro in recent years.
Francisco Monaldi, director of the Latin American Energy Program at Rice University’s Baker Institute, cautioned that excluding Chinese and Russian firms could pose challenges. Joint ventures involving those countries account for about 22 percent of Venezuela’s oil production.
“If they cannot export the oil coming from these ventures,” Monaldi said, “that’s a big problem.”
