US Authorizes Four More Oil Companies to Operate in Venezuela
The companies that will be able to resume their operations are all European: Repsol, ENI, BP, and Shell
TL;DR
- US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) granted new licenses to Repsol, ENI, BP, and Shell.
- These companies are now authorized to conduct transactions related to oil or gas operations in Venezuela.
- This expands on the existing authorization previously held only by Chevron.
- Payments and royalties from these operations must be deposited into the "Foreign Governments Deposit Fund" set up by the US.
- OFAC License General No. 49 allows global oil companies to sign contracts with PDVSA for gas and oil exploration, exploitation, and production, requiring individual authorization for each contract.
- Operations with entities owned or controlled by North Korea, Russia, Iran, or China are not authorized.
- A previous license, General License No. 48, also permits certain previously prohibited oil operations.