President Trump said on Wednesday that he will recall a Biden era policy that allowed the production of more oil in Venezuela and exported, facing a blow to the country’s government and Chevron, which produces oil there.
Mr Trump did not mention Chevron in his position for Truth Social, only saying that he would reverse the concessions granted on November 26, 2022. Then the Treasury gave Chevron’s permission to extend businesses to Venezuela. The license is ready for renewal on March 1.
“The regime has not transferred the violent criminals they sent to our country (the good Ole ‘USA) back to Venezuela at the fast pace they had agreed,” Mr Trump said.
A Chevron spokesman said the company examined the consequences of Mr Trump’s statement. Chevron, the second largest American oil company, has long operated in Venezuela.
Asked about Venezuela last month, Chevron’s CEO Mike Wirth said the company focused on maintaining staff safe and after law. “We don’t put politics,” he said in calling the company’s profits. “We are dealing with the government to inform them of the possible impact of policy options and we will continue to do so.”
Oil is the backbone of Venezuela’s deeply troubled economy. The country is believed to have the largest oil reserves in the world, but President Nicolás Maduro’s government has sought to benefit from these resources due to mismanagement and sub -sector in its state -owned oil company.
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy RodrÃguez called Mr Trump’s move “a harmful and inexplicable decision” to a social media position. He added that “seeking to harm the people of Venezuela, it actually causes damage to the United States, its population and its companies”. He added that the decision was likely to increase Venezuelan immigration, with “widely known consequences”.
The Treasury did not respond to a request for comments.
US oil prices did not change itself slightly on Wednesday afternoon, hovering around $ 69 a barrel.
The United States stopped importing oil from Venezuela for several years after Mr Trump to carry out sanctions on the country’s state -owned oil company in 2019 during its first term. Imports reiterated after Biden’s administration gave a Chevron license in late 2022 to export oil to Venezuela.
But the United States is very much dependent on Venezuelan oil on what it once was. It introduces about 226,000 barrels a day from the country, equivalent to about 1 % of US demand, according to the energy intelligence service. Venezuela produces a denser, more viscous type of oil that is not common in the United States. Refineries in the United States are designed to run into a mixture of this heavier oil and lighter varieties produced in the domestic market.
