US teases imminent Venezuela sanctions relief
Washington could lift some of the sanctions against Venezuela within days in order to facilitate oil sales, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has announced. His comments came after US President Donald Trump insisted that America needs “total access” to the country’s crude.
In an interview with Reuters on Friday, Bessent said the US Treasury was already “de-sanctioning the oil that’s going to be sold” and review changes that would help repatriate proceeds from Venezuelan crude stored largely on ships back to the country.
“How can we help that get back into Venezuela, to run the government, run the security services and get it to the Venezuelan people?” he said, adding that more sanctions could be removed “as soon as next week,” without specifying which measures.
He also said nearly $5 billion worth of the country’s frozen IMF Special Drawing Rights could be deployed to help rebuild the economy. Bessent also suggested that smaller privately held companies were likely to move quickly back into Venezuela’s oil sector.
Some major US oil companies remain wary, however. On Friday, Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods called Venezuela, which holds the world’s largest oil reserves, “uninvestible” under current conditions, citing weak legal protections and past nationalizations.
Bessent’s remarks come after a US attack on Caracas and the kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who was flown to New York to face drug trafficking and weapons possession charges he denies.
After the kidnapping, US President Donald Trump said Washington would “run” Venezuela while cooperating with the officials in Caracas until a transition was achieved, while stressing that the US needs “total access… to the oil and to other things in their country.”
Days later, Trump announced that Venezuela’s interim authorities would “turn over” 30 to 50 million barrels of “sanctioned oil” to be sold and “used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States.”
Meanwhile, Caracas said it was open to dialogue with the US, but warned that the country “will never return to being the colony of another empire.”
