US to remove some sanctions to allow Venezuelan oil sales \u2018indefinitely\u2019, CNBC reports, citing White House sources
\n Washington
\nVenezuela will reportedly continue supplying oil to the US beyond the initial 50m barrels announced by Donald Trump after the American military\u2019s capture of Nicol\u00e1s Maduro.
\nThe US would remove some sanctions on Venezuela to allow sales of oil \u201cindefinitely\u201d, according to the broadcaster CNBC, which cited White House sources.
\nTrump said on Tuesday that Venezuela would hand over 30m to 50m barrels of the country\u2019s blockaded crude to the US. The deal would give the US president the power to sell up to $3bn (\u00a32.2bn) worth of Venezuelan crude stranded in tankers and storage facilities into an already oversupplied global market.
\nA continuing supply of crude from Venezuela could act as a drag on oil prices, which last year recorded their steepest annual fall since the Covid pandemic and could plummet further as oil producers continue to pump more than needed by the global economy.
\nGlobal oil prices fell on Wednesday, although they recovered some ground in morning trading in New York. The international benchmark, Brent crude, fell to just over $60 a barrel on Wednesday, while the US oil price fell by 0.9%, to $56.72 a barrel, after earlier falling below $56.
\nThe oil grab also raises the prospect of a disruption to Venezuela\u2019s oil exports to China, which takes about 80% of its crude exports, potentially forcing Beijing to pay higher prices for its crude and increasing tensions with the White House.
\nChina\u2019s foreign ministry said on Wednesday that Venezuela \u201cenjoys full and permanent sovereignty over its natural resources and economic activities\u201d and US demands for the country to hand over its oil \u201cviolate international law, infringe upon Venezuela\u2019s sovereignty, and harm the rights of the Venezuelan people\u201d.
\nIn a post on his Truth Social platform late on Tuesday, Trump said: \u201cThat money will be controlled by me, as President \u2026 It will be taken by storage ships, and brought directly to unloading docks in the United States.\u201d
\nTrump has said he wants Venezuela\u2019s interim president, Delcy Rodr\u00edguez, to give the US and private companies \u201ctotal access\u201d to Venezuela\u2019s oil industry. The US energy secretary, Chris Wright, is in charge of executing the deal, Trump said, adding that the oil would be taken from ships and sent directly to US ports.
\nThe US will seize control of Venezuela\u2019s crude days after Saturday morning\u2019s attack on Caracas led to the capture of the then president, Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, and after Trump vowed that US companies would reignite the country\u2019s struggling oil industry.
\nUS oil executives from Chevron, ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil are expected to meet Trump at the White House on Friday to discuss plans to pour billions of dollars into the industry in Venezuela.
\nChevron is the only US oil company that still operates in the country after the assets of ConocoPhillips and Exxon were nationalised by the former president Hugo Ch\u00e1vez in the mid-2000s, a move Trump has described as \u201cthe greatest theft in the history of America\u201d.
\nThe US oil majors have so far declined to outline publicly any such plans for investment and there is scepticism that big listed companies would be willing to invest in a political unstable region amid falling global oil prices without iron-clad guarantees that their investments would be protected.
\nThere is also scepticism over whether Venezuela, which holds the world\u2019s largest reserves of crude, could once again produce meaningful amounts after years of neglect and corruption that caused its output to fall from highs of 3.5m barrels of oil per day 25 years ago to about 1m bpd \u2013 or less than 1% of the global market.
\nThe multibillion-dollar investment needed to increase Venezuela\u2019s oil production to its heyday in the late 1990s could require 15 years of work to repair the country\u2019s degraded infrastructure and capital spending of up to $185bn, according to analysis by Rystad Energy, a global consultancy.
\nThe US Department of State was approached for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
US to remove some sanctions to allow Venezuelan oil sales \u2018indefinitely\u2019, CNBC reports, citing White House sources Washington Venezuela will reportedly continue supplying oil to the US beyond the initial 50m barrels announced by Donald Trump after the American military\u2019s capture of Nicol\u00e1s Maduro. The US would remove some sanctions on Venezuela to allow sales […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":524361,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-524339","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n