Media: Washington plans to lift sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry

US officials are preparing to issue a general license that would lift some sanctions on Venezuela’s energy sector, shifting away from an earlier plan to grant individual exemptions for companies seeking to operate there, four sources familiar with the preparation said.

The move follows the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro earlier this month by US forces, after which Washington said it would ease sanctions to support a $2 billion oil supply deal and an ambitious $100 billion plan to rebuild Venezuela’s oil industry, Reuters reports.

Several partners and customers of the state oil company PDVSA — including producers Chevron, Repsol and ENI, refiner Reliance Industries, and some US oil service providers — have recently filed for individual licenses to expand oil output or exports. 

The sheer volume of applications has slowed progress on export expansion and delayed key investments, two sources said.

Official spokespeople for the US Treasury Department, the White House and Venezuela’s oil ministry had not immediately responded to requests for comment.

Under former US President Joe Biden, a broad license exempted many firms from sanctions and helped increase Venezuelan crude production and exports until early last year. That authorisation was revoked after Donald Trump began his second term as president. 

Trump’s administration then ordered companies to wind down transactions and, in December, imposed a blockade on sanctioned vessels entering or exiting Venezuela, cutting exports to about 500 000 barrels per day, roughly half of the 2025 average.

In recent weeks, exports have begun to recover after trading houses Vitol and Trafigura received licenses to supply up to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan oil to the US and other markets, easing some of the backlog caused by inventory buildup.

By Jeyhun Aghazada