The Biden Administration granted a license to Chevron to resume oil production in Venezuela, despite sanctions imposed on the country over corruption and human rights concerns.
The U.S. Treasury Department granted a license for the restart of oil production in Venezuela.
The oil giant was granted a six-month license from the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control.
President Joe Biden began searching for alternatives to Russian oil and the U.S. looked to weaken Russia's economy as the war dragged on.
A senior U.S. official told The Associated Press that the deal was unrelated to efforts to increase the U.S. energy supply.
The announcement came after the Biden Administration released more than 200 million barrels from the federal emergency oil reserve in an effort to curb prices.
The license was granted by federal officials after the president of Venezuela agreed with the opposition to focus on education, public health, food security and electricity programs.
CNN reported that the announcement was an important step in the right direction as the Latin American country remains in a political stalemate over who its leader is.
There is a provision in the license prohibiting Chevron from conducting any transactions with Iran or Russian owned entities in Venezuela.
The White House said that the profits from the oil sales of the company would be used to repay debt.
In a statement, federal officials said the measure is aimed at "targeted sanctions relief" for "concrete steps that alleviate the suffering of the Venezuelan people and support the restoration of democracy" If Venezuela doesn't follow through on its end of the negotiations, the Treasury Department has the right to withdraw the agreement.
GOP lawmakers theorize that the trip to Venezuela by the U.S. delegation was a sign that the Biden Administration wanted to replace the lost Russian energy. The move to ease sanctions on Venezuela was called a national security suicide by Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska).
Since the beginning of the year, U.S. companies have not been allowed to conduct business with the state-owned oil company in Venezuela. According to a 2020 report from the United Nations human rights body, the government of Venezuela has been accused of crimes against humanity in addition to rigging the 2020 election. The most recent round of negotiations between the two sides fell through in October. Russian energy companies and banks helped Venezuela continue to produce oil.
678,000. That is how many barrels of oil Venezuela produced in October, according to a report from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. It was up from September but still less than it had been before the sanctions.
A new U.S. license has been granted to pump oil in Venezuela again.
The last oil drilling rig in Venezuela has left the country.
America needs more oil, but it comes from other countries.
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