Venezuelan Vice President and Oil Minister Delcy Rodríguez on Monday called for foreign oil and gas companies to maintain operations in Venezuela despite the impending termination of licenses granted by the United States during the administration of former U.S. President Joe Biden.
Over the weekend, the administration of President Donald Trump revoked several oil and gas licenses granted by the Biden administration to U.S. and international companies that allowed them to operate in Venezuela in compliance with U.S. oil sanctions imposed by President Trump during his first term in January 2019.
President Trump sanctioned the Venezuelan state-owned oil company PDVSA at the time in response to a lengthy list of human rights violations committed by the socialist regime against its own people. As such, companies required a license from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to operate in Venezuela.
The companies that have had their Biden-era oil and gas licenses terminated and must wind down operations in Venezuela in the coming weeks include the French oil group Maurel and Prom, Spain’s Repsol oil company, Italy’s ENI energy company, and the Texas-based Global Oil Terminals, whose license allowed it to import Venezuelan asphalt. California-based Chevron, whose license was originally set to expire on April 3, 2025, will have until May 27, 2025, to cease its operations in the country.
Additionally, other companies such as India’s Reliance Industries recently announced that it will stop purchasing Venezuelan oil after President Trump announced last week that any country that purchases oil or gas from Venezuela will be subject to an additional 25 percent “secondary tariff” on all goods imported to the United States.
Vice President and Oil Minister Rodríguez addressed the termination of the licenses on her personal account at the Telegram messaging platform — the socialist regime’s new go-to communications platform after dictator Nicolás Maduro banned Twitter following the fraudulent July 2024 presidential election.
In her statement, the Venezuelan vice president asserted that oil production in Venezuela is “normal” as of the end of March and that the plan to “increase production in the different fields is being followed.”
“PDVSA maintains its wells in production, with its own effort, the fundamental body of its daily volume. Likewise, the international companies that operate in the country without a license from any foreign government are fully operational, subject to the laws of the Republic,” the statement read.
“Those transnational companies whose license was revoked by the U.S. government at the request of the failed Venezuelan extremism, are welcome to continue participating in the production in a win-win scheme of the contracts signed with the national industry, in accordance with the Venezuelan legal framework,” the statement continued.
Rodríguez concluded by asserting that PDVSA “maintains” its gas production for domestic supply and is “focused on export projects with international companies, as well as its national refining system.” The socialist official pointed out that, “in union, and thanks to the outstanding effort of its workers, Venezuela is standing and executing its absolute production independence plan dictated by President Nicolás Maduro.”
In a separate Sunday evening statement, Rodríguez claimed that the Maduro regime has maintained “fluid communication” with the companies whose license was terminated, asserting that “we have prepared for this situation” and will continue to fulfill the contracts with the companies under the terms of local law.
“As we have always maintained, international companies do not require a license or authorization from any foreign government since Venezuela does not recognize or apply any extraterritorial jurisdiction,” Rodríguez said. “We are a reliable partner and we will continue to comply with the agreements reached with these companies.”
“The hydrocarbons engine [name of a local socialist plan] is activated and the Absolute Productive Independence Plan ordered by the President of the Republic, Nicolás Maduro, continues its course and will remain open to all national and international investments for the development of this strategic sector,” she continued.
Reuters reported on Monday that Repsol is in an “open and fluid dialogue” with U.S. authorities to explore ways to keep operating in Venezuela after the termination of the oil license.
“We are in direct contact with the American authorities and we are going to see if we are able to find mechanisms that may allow us to continue with our activity in this country,” Repsol CEO Josu Jon Imaz reportedly said at a Monday business event in Madrid, Spain.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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