Earlier this month, a US high-level delegation met with President Maduro in Caracas to explore a negotiation process in order to resume oil shipments to US markets.
Soon after, Caracas announced its return to the dialogue table with the US-backed opposition and released two imprisoned US citizens in the wake of the encounter.
But the bilateral talks’ future is unclear after both Republican and Democratic lawmakers rejected the prospect of establishing dialogue and sourcing oil from Venezuela.
With midterm elections ahead in November, Biden administration officials have begun backtracking on the depth of the negotiations with the South American country.
On Monday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that resuming imports of Venezuelan oil was not an active conversation at this time.
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan also stated on Sunday that the lifting of any sanctions against Venezuela must be tied to concrete [political] steps that Maduro and the people around him take.
Despite the uncertainty regarding sanctions relief, US oil giant Chevron and other PdVSA partners have continued pushing Washington to ease measures against Caracas in order to receive Venezuelan oil cargoes as debt payment.
According to Reuters, Chevron is already preparing to take operating control in its four joint oil ventures in western and eastern Venezuela, which produced 200,000 bpd before sanctions were levied against the industry.
The California-based firm has reportedly begun sorting visas and assembling a trading team to begin shipping Venezuelan oil to US refineries as soon as next month.
If Chevron, owned by the famous Rockefeller family secures a license, Venezuela’s oil output and exports would receive a significant boost while easing a long-standing US $3 billion debt with the US company.
Similarly, chief executive A.K Gupta of India’s second-largest oil company ONGC Videsh spoke to Reuters about ongoing talks with the US State Department to allow the company to receive Venezuelan oil cargoes to settle a $420 million debt.
It is logical from the companies’ viewpoint since it’s not tantamount to any investments (in Venezuela), explained Gupta in relation to Washington’s maximum pressure campaign that seeks to strangle the nations’ economy by impeding any foreign income.
Washington is likewise reportedly weighing similar oil-for-debt licenses to Spain’s Repsol and Italy’s Eni, both of them long-term PdVSA partners. PdVSA’s repeated attempts to service its outstanding $34.9 billion have been blocked by US sanctions.
On March 12, Venezuela Vice-president Delcy Rodriguez restated the country’s disposition to resume payments to bondholders and blamed Washington’s anachronistic sanctions program for negatively impacting international corporations as well.
Venezuela Analysis / ABC Flash Point WW III News 2022.
Trying to replace the Russian supply?
Not possible!