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.