The Washington administration is reopening Venezuela's oil market to major economies amid a radical shift in energy policy in Caracas.
US President, Donald Trump/PHOTO: EPA/EFE
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, said on January 31 that he supports the investments of China and India in Venezuela's oil sector, according to the Bloomberg agency. The announcement comes as the US Treasury Department authorized US companies to export, sell and process Venezuelan oil despite existing sanctions.
“China can enter this business wholeheartedly and conclude an advantageous oil deal. We are also working with India on an agreement to purchase Venezuelan oil. India will join and buy oil from Venezuela, not from Iran. The concept of this agreement has already been agreed.”Trump said.
According to Bloomberg, earlier this week Venezuela's interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, signed what are considered historic changes to the country's oil policy. The new measures include tax cuts and expanded ownership rights for foreign oil companies. The decision came less than a month after US forces ousted the country's longtime leader Nicolás Maduro.
Shortly after these changes, the US Treasury Department issued a general license allowing US firms to operate with Venezuelan oil. Sources cited by Bloomberg show that the United States plans to import a record amount of crude oil from Venezuela this year after the Trump administration seized control of the country's energy supply chain and forced oil companies to invest about $100 billion to rebuild infrastructure.
After the US became the main importer of Venezuelan oil, supplies to China were drastically reduced. If last year the exports to Beijing amounted, on average, to 400,000 barrels per day, in January they dropped to zero, against the background of the operations carried out by the US Navy against the so-called “ghost fleet”.
