WASHINGTON: The administration of President Donald Trump lifted some sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry on Thursday to make it easier for US companies to sell its crude oil, and said more restrictions on the country would be lifted soon.
The move by the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control authorizes US companies to buy, sell, transport, store and refine Venezuelan crude oil, but does not lift existing US sanctions on production.
A White House official said the measure “would help flow existing product” from Venezuela and that there will soon be more announcements on the easing of sanctions.
Trump has said the United States intends to control Venezuela’s oil sales and revenues indefinitely since US forces seized the country’s leader Nicolas Maduro in a raid on the capital Caracas on January 3.
He has said he also wants US oil companies to eventually invest $100 billion dollars to restore the OPEC-member nation’s production to its historic peaks following years of underinvestment and mismanagement.
