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The United States has imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s oil sector once again, citing President Nicolás Maduro’s crackdown on the opposition. This move comes after six months of Washington relaxing sanctions against the authoritarian leader, who had announced plans for free presidential elections. However, an agreement reached in October between Maduro and the US-backed opposition in Barbados for upcoming elections turned out to be empty as key opposition figures were barred from running.
Following the easing of sanctions, American oil company Chevron had returned to Venezuela and a group of Americans held in the country were released. Despite this progress, major companies like Shell and Repsol have continued to engage in deals with Maduro’s government and the state oil company PDVSA.
Ten years ago, Venezuela produced 2.9 million barrels of oil per day but as of 2020 production had dropped to 400,000 barrels per day. With the reintroduction of sanctions, production has decreased further to just 800,000 barrels per day in the first quarter of this year. The US government has decided to reinstate its economic sanctions on Venezuela’s oil sector while leaving the deal between Chevron and PDVSA intact for now.
