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Replies to post #26334 on The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence
08/25/22 6:44 PM
10/05/22 7:40 PM
The Biden administration is preparing to scale down sanctions on Venezuela’s authoritarian regime to allow Chevron Corp. to resume pumping oil there, paving the way for a potential reopening of U.S. and European markets to oil exports from Venezuela, according to people familiar with the proposal.
In exchange for the significant sanctions relief, the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro would resume long-suspended talks with the country’s opposition to discuss conditions needed to hold free and fair presidential elections in 2024, the people said. The U.S., Venezuela’s government and some Venezuelan opposition figures have also worked out a deal that would free up hundreds of millions of dollars in Venezuelan state funds frozen in American banks to pay for imports of food, medicine and equipment for the country’s battered electricity grid and municipal water systems.
…Ali Moshiri, a former Chevron executive who oversaw the expansion of the company’s operations in Latin America and worked closely with Venezuelan officials, said the Biden administration’s shift appears to reflect political pressure that has come with rising energy prices and tight global supplies [duh].
…Mr. Moshiri…estimates the country could reach 1.5 million barrels a day of output in two years if Chevron and other companies can work freely.
…The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which administers sanctions against Venezuela, is preparing to issue one or more licenses for Chevron to run its four existing joint-venture oil projects with the state oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela SA, or PdVSA.
…With Chevron in charge of all aspects of the projects, and the U.S. providing clearance to export oil, Venezuela could regain the relevance in the oil market that it enjoyed during the early 2000s, when it was one of the main exporters of crude to the U.S. The country is now exporting about 450,000 barrels a day and could double that figure in a matter of months, say people who are familiar with Venezuela’s oil industry and are bullish about its prospects.
10/28/22 11:07 AM
AI
