The United States has eased key sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry in a major policy shift aimed at reviving Caracas’s long‑struggling energy sector. U.S. Treasury officials issued a general license allowing American companies to trade transport and refine Venezuelan crude a move designed to open the market after lawmakers in Venezuela passed reforms to liberalize the industry.
The change follows Venezuela’s National Assembly approval of a revamped hydrocarbons law that grants greater autonomy to private producers lowers taxes and offers more investor‑friendly guarantees — steps seen as necessary to attract foreign capital back into the country’s oil fields.
Once a major supplier to the United States Venezuela’s crude production has plunged over the past decade dropping to about 1.2 million barrels per day in 2025 from 3 million earlier in the century due to underinvestment mismanagement and sanctions. Easing restrictions now allows U.S. firms to participate more fully in exports and marketing of Venezuelan oil.
While the sanctions relief does not lift all barriers production activities still require specific approvals the move is a significant thaw in relations aimed at encouraging U.S. energy companies back into operations long dominated by state control. Analysts say this could signal a fresh era of cooperation in a sector critical to Venezuela’s economy and global oil markets.
Amid these changes Venezuela’s acting president described the reforms as historic even as challenges remain in rebuilding output and reassuring foreign investors wary after years of political and economic turmoil.
