CheeDon’t approve oil operations in Venezuela
The U.S. government announced on Saturday that Chevron Corp. has won U.S. approval to resume and expand its oil operations in Venezuela.
The Treasury Department said Chevron has been given an expanded license to import petroleum or petroleum products produced by its joint venture with PDVSA, the Venezuelan state oil-firm. The approval came after talks between the Venezuelan government, led by socialist President Nicol s Maduro, and the opposition Unitary Platform resumed.
The Treasury Department said this action reflects the longstanding U.S. policy to provide targeted sanctions based on concrete steps that alleviate the suffering of the Venezuelan people and support the restoration of democracy.
President Biden released more than 200 million barrels of oil from the nation's emergency oil reserves to offer relief at the pump, as energy prices soared and inflation fueled by the rise in the nation's emergency oil reserves. His administration has urged foreign governments like Venezuela to increase oil production as well as increase production due to the shortages caused by sanctions against Russia for the war in Ukraine, OPEC announcing production cuts and a slowing of production in U.S. shale.
Per day, Venezuela produces around 800,000 barrels of oil. That figure is up from the average of it produced a year ago, but is far from its failed target of 1 million a day by the end of 2021 and nowhere near the 3 million barrels per day the country was producing in the 1990s.
The announcements made by the Unitary Platform and the Maduro regime are important steps in the right direction to restore democracy in the country, the Treasury Department said. The United States supports the reopening of negotiations between the Unitary Platform and the Maduro regime as part of our longstanding policy to support the peaceful restoration of democracy, free and fair elections, and respect for the rights and freedoms of Venezuelans. A Chevron spokeswoman told Reuters that the license terms were being reviewed.