Caracas announced yesterday night (30.3.25) that the government of USA proceeded to recall permits that had given ‘to transnational companies oil and gas, ”thus providing them with exception to the ability to operate in Venezueladespite the penalties and the oil embargo imposed in order to expel President Nicolas Maduro from power.
The announcement by Venezuela does not name the companies, however, after the recall of the US oil company Chevron in late February, the European Repsol (Spain) and Maurel & Prom (France), according to experts, were left.
“We maintain (…) communication with multinational oil and gas companies operating in the country,” which “have been informed by the US government in recent hours of revoking their licenses,” said Delsi Rodriguez vice president via Facebook.
“We were prepared for this juncture and we are ready to continue to honor our contractual obligations to these companies in the context of the Constitution (…) and the laws,” he continued. “As we have always argued, multinational companies need neither permission nor approval by any foreign government,” he added.
However, companies that violate the embargo or US instructions are at risk of being sanctioned by the US government.
US President Donald Trump withdrew in late February the license of Chevron, given by Joe Biden’s predecessor and allowed her to operate in the state of Latin America despite sanctions. Like the American colossus, other multinationals had received exceptional licenses.
President Trump means to cause financial suffocation in Venezuela to force President Maduro to abandon power.
Mr Trump is threatening any country buying Venezuela oil to increase 25% of customs duties in all its products exported to the US.
The US government, like the previous one, does not recognize Mr Maduro’s re -election in the July presidential election, is on the side of the opposition, which denounces fraud and says she won.
Mr Trump, who initially gave the Chevron deadline until April 3rd to end her Venezuelan activities, extended her to May 27th.
Venezuela has the largest confirmed oil reserves in the world. But its production, which had reached the peak in the years of 2000 – 3.5 million barrels a day, records today, does not exceed 1 million barrels today, which the opposition attributes to mismanagement and the government to US sanctions.
The country’s GDP fell 80% over the eight years of continuous recession (2014-2021), due to the reduction of oil prices. Its production retreated to Nadir (300,000 barrels/day) before it was recovered.