WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th February, 2023) The volume of Venezuelan oil imported to the United States by three oil companies amounts to an average of 100,000 barrels per day in February after the Biden administration eased the existing restrictions in November to allow such activity, a source familiar with the matter told Sputnik on Friday.
The source said that Chevron, Valero and Phillips 66 combined will lead the increased import of Venezuela oil to the United States.
"Production has increased at Petropiar and production restarted recently at Petroboscan, so together that adds up to more than 100,000 volume to the US Gulf coast," the source said.
Chevron holds joint stakes with Venezuela's PDVSA at both Petropiar, which is a heavy oil field in the Orinoco belt and Petroboscan in Western Venezuela.
The average amount of Venezuelan oil imported to the United States may increase if US restrictions continue to ease, the source said.
Last November, the US Treasury Department provided a new license that allows Chevron to extract oil in Venezuela for six months through its joint venture partners PDVSA. However, this license did not expand operations or allow new US investment in Venezuela's oil sector.
The United States granted the new license after the Venezuelan government and the opposition resumed talks in Mexico City and came to an agreement on addressing the humanitarian crisis in the country, including an agreement on the continuation of talks focused on elections to be held in 2024.
According to US officials, Venezuela-related sanctions and restrictions imposed by the United States still remain in place and this decision should not be interpreted as a permissive environment on sanctions.
