Oil companies will be able to pay taxes in Venezuela without being sanctioned by the US

Austin (USA),- Oil companies operating in Venezuela will be able to pay local taxes and levies to the Government of this Latin American country without being sanctioned by United States, as indicated this Wednesday by the Department of the Treasury.

In a license issued today by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Washington indicated that, to avoid sanctions, companies wishing to operate in Venezuela must deposit all payments of national taxes or energy royalties to the Venezuelan Government in an account controlled by the U.S.

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This new regulation comes less than a month after the Trump administration issued a general license lifting sanctions on some commercial transactions with Venezuelan crude, paving the way for major US oil companies to return to operations in the South American country. This license is a more generalized permit than the one Washington has issued so far individually (as in the case of Chevron) since former President Joe Biden temporarily lifted sanctions on the Venezuelan energy sector in 2024. However, the measure imposed quite specific conditions and important prohibitions. Among them, that the contracts that American companies obtain with the Government of Venezuela or PDVSA, the state oil company, must be governed by US laws and establish that any dispute resolution be done in the US. During his first term, in 2019, Trump sanctioned the Venezuelan oil industry, dealing a hard blow to the country’s economy, which depends mostly on crude oil exports. Following a military intervention by Washington in Caracas on January 3rd, which resulted in the arrest of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and their transfer to New York to face charges of alleged drug trafficking, Trump has pressured major US oil companies to reinvest in the South American country.

Venezuela has the largest proven crude oil reserves in the world, about 303,000 million barrels, equivalent to 17% of the global total.

Most of it is located in the Orinoco Belt, in the form of extra-heavy crude oil that requires advanced technology and large investments to be exploited. Chevron is the only US oil company that still maintains operations in Venezuela and to which the Treasury Department, through OFAC, has granted a license to be able to import crude oil. The oil giant agreed in 2007 to remain in the country, after then-President Hugo Chávez nationalized the last deposits operated by the private sector, forcing large foreign companies to accept a majority control by the State, through Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), or leave the country. The joint ventures of Chevron and PDVSA in Venezuela contribute around 27% of national production, about 242,000 barrels per day.