Until May 31st to cease operations for companies like RepsolAs announced this Wednesday, the Ministry of Finance will not renew General License 44, which expires at midnight and which has allowed the activity of foreign companies such as Repsol in the Venezuelan oil and gas sector for the last six months.
Companies like Repsol have 45 days until May 31 to properly suspend any activities they had under these regulations.
Instead, the Ministry of Finance issued License 44A, which requires foreign companies wanting to do business with the state-owned oil company Petróleos Venezolanos (PDVSA) to apply for individual permits that are assessed on a case-by-case basis.
The restrictions do not in any way affect the activities in Venezuela of the American company Chevron, which has had a special license since 2022, when the war in Ukraine disrupted the global crude oil market, but other companies such as the Spanish company Repsol have.
Over the past six months, Caracas has expanded its contracts with foreign companies and oil production in the country rose 18% in the first quarter of the year.
New chapter in the relationship
The end of the relief represents a change in the policy of the Biden administration, which had sought to distance itself from the strategy of his predecessor, Republican Donald Trump (2017-2021), of exerting maximum pressure on Venezuela to try to overthrow Maduro.
The United States considers that Chavismo has fulfilled some electoral obligations, such as updating the electoral roll or supporting election observation missions.
There were also prisoner exchanges in Washington and Caracas last December, during which Alex Saab, Maduro’s alleged frontman, was released.
But the Venezuelan judiciary maintained the disqualification weighing on the opposition María Corina Machado, and the authorities prevented the registration of her alternative, Corina Yoris, even drawing criticism from the governments of Colombia and Brazil, allies of Maduro with whom Washington has close ties maintained contacts.
The Democratic Unity Platform (PUD), the main opposition bloc, has provisionally registered Edmundo González Urrutia for the elections and is in internal debates to name a final candidate.
The US State Department reiterated its demand in a statement on Wednesday that “Maduro allows all candidates and parties to participate in the electoral process and releases all political prisoners without further delay.”
“The end of the license should not be viewed as a final decision that we no longer believe Venezuela can hold competitive elections,” US sources said.