HOUSTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th March, 2023) Norwegian oil firm Equinor is not considering resuming oil production operations in Venezuela regardless of the US easing sanctions, company spokesperson Ola Morten Aanestad told Sputnik on Friday.
"No, Venezuela is not being considered by Equinor at this time," the spokesperson said.
Equinor had a joint venture in Venezuela but left after US sanctions hampered Venezuela's energy sector in 2019.
Chevron and its joint ventures with PDVSA currently produce up to 100,000 barrels per day, but with additional investment and time it could reach a capacity of 300,000 barrels per day, a person with knowledge of the industry told Sputnik earlier this week. Chevron, European energy companies ENI and Repsol, and other joint ventures produced 500,000 barrels a day before US sanctions were placed on Venezuela in 2019, which has discouraged investment in the country's oil sector.
In 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.
