The U.S. government is preparing to issue a general license allowing companies to directly extract oil in Venezuela. This move is an important step in the Trump administration's relaxation of sanctions on Venezuela and the resumption of its energy industry. Bloomberg cited sources saying that the license could be issued by the U.S. Treasury as early as this week.
The core purpose of this new license is to attract energy companies with U.S. connections to enter Venezuela, helping to repair this energy system, which has one of the world's largest oil reserves but has been paralyzed for a long time. In January, the U.S. launched a military operation in Caracas, arresting the then-president Maduro, after which the Trump administration shifted support to his former vice president Delcy Rodríguez and attempted to stabilize Venezuela's economy through a "takeover-style reconstruction."
Previously, the U.S. had already issued another general license last week, allowing companies to trade Venezuelan crude oil, covering downstream activities such as loading, export, transportation, and refining, but only if operated by companies with "existing U.S. entity backgrounds." Earlier, the U.S. also issued individual licenses to Trafigura Group and Vitol Group, allowing them to resume trading of Venezuelan crude oil - previously, part of the U.S. maritime blockade had caused crude oil to be unable to be transported, leading to full storage tanks.
As export bottlenecks are gradually lifted, high-sulfur heavy crude oil from Venezuela is flowing back into the international market. A clear change is that buyers are shifting their focus from China to the United States. During the most severe years of sanctions, China was the main buyer, absorbing Venezuelan crude oil at significant discounts; historically, the United States had actually been its largest customer.
The Trump administration designed a highly "trust-based" financial mechanism: oil revenue generated by companies operating in Venezuela with U.S. connections must first be deposited into an account controlled by the U.S. and located in Qatar; these funds are then released to the Venezuelan Central Bank, which subsequently distributes dollars to local private enterprises through auctions. The goal is to prevent the misuse of funds while maintaining domestic economic operations.
However, not all companies are willing to enter the market. Energy companies that have not yet established a presence in Venezuela remain very cautious, mainly due to concerns including whether the current government can maintain stability in the long term and whether political risks might reverse policies again.
At the same time, the U.S. has also reopened Venezuela's airspace, allowing commercial flights to resume. On the domestic side in Venezuela, the Rodríguez government is also cooperating with reforms: improving fiscal terms for oil companies and releasing some political prisoners to gain limited return of international society and capital.
Original: toutiao.com/article/1856119953038731/
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