Miami - A permit issued by the United States government allowing energy giant Chevron Corp. to pump and export Venezuelan oil will be terminated this week, ending what became a financial lifeline for the South American country.
There was no mention of California-based Chevron nor the permit, formally known as a general license, that exempts the company from economic sanctions and allows it to export and sell Venezuelan oil in the U.S. But it is the only Venezuela-related license whose issuance and renewal information match the dates mentioned.
Venezuela sits atop the world’s largest proven oil reserves and once used them to power Latin America’s strongest economy. But corruption, mismanagement and eventual U.S. economic sanctions saw production decline steadily.
Wednesday’s announcement, which Venezuela’s Communist Vice President Delcy Rodriguez characterized as “harmful and inexplicable,” put a quick end to what Maduro’s government had hoped would be an improved relation with the White House following the Feb. 1 visit of a US envoy to Caracas, the capital. Shortly after that visit, Venezuela’s government began taking back migrants deported from the U.S.
Chevron, which first invested in Venezuela in the 1920s, does business in the country through joint ventures with the state-owned company Petroleos de Venezuela S.A., commonly known as PDVSA.
The joint ventures produced about 200,000 barrels of oil a day in 2019, but the following year, U.S. sanctions imposed by the US to try to topple Maduro forced Chevron to wind down production. When the company got the license to export oil to the U.S. in November 2022, the joint ventures quickly began producing 80,000 barrels a day, and by 2024, they topped their daily output from 2019.
The terms of the license bar Chevron from directly paying taxes or royalties to Venezuela’s government. But the company sends money to the joint ventures, which are majority-owned by PDVSA.
PDVSA exported only 10,000 barrels per day to Cuba in the first month of the year, 65% less than in December 2024
Oil shipments from Venezuela to Cuba fell in January, 2025, to an all-time low of just 10,000 barrels per day (bpd), 65% less than last December, when 29,000 arrived.
Throughout January, the Cuban authorities have warned on several occasions about the lack of fuel and its consequences on energy production. The Unión Eléctrica de Cuba (UNE) has attributed the blackouts to this shortage, which largely affects distributed generation plants.
Venezuelans in US have 60 days before facing threat of deportation; local Venezuelan leader in Miami speaks out
Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans in the United States now have about 60 days before they face the threat of deportation after the Trump administration terminated Temporary Protected Status for them.
This most recent escalation of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration eliminates the right to stay of more than 300,000 people.
The move comes as a one-two punch for Venezuelans who were already reeling from last week’s decision to rescind an 18-month extension of TPS, an extension introduced in the final days of the outgoing Biden administration.
Speaking on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem defended the Trump administration’s decision to terminate TPS for thousands of Venezuelans.
“Well, the TPP program has been abused, and it doesn’t have integrity right now,” said Noem. “We are ending that extension of that program, adding some integrity back into it, and this administration is evaluating all of our programs to make sure they truly are something that’s to the benefit of the United States, so that they’re not to the benefit of criminals.”
The decision will affect more than 300,000 Venezuelans who had TPS through April. It gives them just 60 days before becoming vulnerable to deportation.
The New York Times reported that another group of more than 250,000 people protected through September will not be affected — for now.
“Right now, we need to do something to stop that decision, because for us, it’s a reason of living or dying,” said Jose Colina with the organization “Venezolanos Perseguidos Políticos en el Exilio.”
The revocations of TPS are certain to have profound effects in Florida, which has the largest number of TPS beneficiaries out of any state, more than half of whom are from Venezuela.
“All people from Venezuela are very sad, right? Very ‘be careful,’ you know, because I don’t know what’s going on with this situation,” said Colina. “A lot of people are in danger right now.”
All of this comes just days after Venezuela had agreed to take back migrants deported from the U.S., following a meeting between President Nicolás Maduro and senior Trump administration official Richard Grenell.
Friday’s meeting also led to the release of six U.S. detainees held in the South American country.
As for Sunday’s decision, hundreds of thousands of people are now faced with an uncertain future.
“We are not numbers, we are human beings,” said Colina. “You know, working, good jobs, follow the law. Why [do they] now make a decision that’s very bad for 600,000 people living in the United States?”
(Source: Cable News Network, Inc. & NY Times)