US ready to reimpose Venezuela oil sanctions

The US is ready to revoke all oil export licenses recently granted to Venezuela if the South American country's President Nicolas Maduro fails to fulfill his election commitments.

US Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian Nichols said “everything is on the table,” including revoking recently granted licenses allowing Venezuela to export oil and gas.

“If they don’t take the steps that we agreed to, we will revoke the license that we have issued,” Mr. Nichols said in an interview on November 16 on the sidelines of the 30th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in San Francisco, the United States.

Earlier in October, the US Treasury Department eased most sanctions on Venezuela's oil and gold sectors, allowing the OPEC member country to export crude oil, fuel and gas to selected markets for six months.

This move, according to the US, is a goodwill gesture in response to the Maduro administration signing an agreement with the opposition on the 2024 presidential election.

Among the steps agreed upon was allowing opposition candidates to run. But Venezuela’s Supreme Court suspended the results of the opposition primary held on October 22 in Venezuela, which was won by Maria Corina Machado.

Despite his comments about the possibility of reimposing sanctions, Mr. Nichols expressed “confidence” that the current President Maduro administration would abide by the agreement with the opposition and pave the way for Ms. Machado to run for office.

Mr Maduro has repeatedly said he will not give in to what he calls “blackmail” demands from the US.

PDVSA Petromonagas workers operate a drilling rig in the Orinoco Belt, Venezuela's main oil-producing region. Photo: Orinoco Tribune

Venezuela's oil exports in September reached 800,000 barrels per day, the second-highest monthly average this year, as PDVSA and the state-owned oil giant's joint ventures restored production, especially in the Orinoco Belt.

While Venezuela has increased capacity and boosted crude exports this year, output has often been inconsistent from month to month amid frequent power outages, maintenance problems and a lack of investment to expand output.

For example, the OPEC member produced 820,000 barrels per day in August, while exporting less than 700,000 barrels per day in October, due to problems in the country’s main production region. This suggests that it will take more time for Venezuela to stabilize its production on a sustainable path after the US sanctions are lifted.

Most of Venezuela's September output was exported to China, both directly and through transshipment hubs.

Venezuela has also increased exports to its top political ally Cuba to about 86,000 barrels per day of crude, fuel oil, gas oil and gasoline, up from 65,000 barrels per day in August. Cuba is facing fuel shortages and is regularly at risk of blackouts due to low fuel inventories to run its power plants.

Chevron’s Venezuelan oil exports to the US fell to about 145,000 barrels per day (bpd) in September, from 147,000 bpd in August, according to PDVSA documents and LSEG tanker tracking data.

Soon after the easing of US sanctions, PDVSA began appealing to its traditional customers to re-establish trading relationships, primarily through spot sales. However, the company’s prepayment requirements for all commodity sales, lack of open market bidding, and oil quality issues have hampered the payment process .

Minh Duc (According to Bloomberg, Reuters)

Source: https://www.nguoiduatin.vn/my-san-sang-tai-ap-dat-trung-phat-dau-venezuela-a636361.html