The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury has issued a new license regulating operations related to Venezuelan-origin oil. The document authorizes “certain types of activities” linked to the extraction, transportation, and sale of Venezuelan oil, while at the same time introducing strict restrictions that directly affect Russia and several other states.
According to the text of the license, any transaction involving individuals or legal entities located in the territory of the Russian Federation or established under Russian law is prohibited. Similar restrictions apply to Iran, North Korea, and Cuba. As a result, companies from these countries are completely excluded from any legal schemes involving Venezuelan oil within the framework of the U.S. sanctions regime.
A separate provision of the license concerns China. The document bans any operation involving a legal entity registered in Venezuela or the United States if it is directly or indirectly owned or controlled by Chinese structures. In practice, this closes even indirect access for Beijing to Venezuela’s oil sector through third countries or shell companies.
The OFAC decision was taken against the backdrop of a sharp shift in Venezuela’s political situation. After the seizure of the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro, in early January, the administration of Donald Trump demanded that interim president Delcy Rodríguez open Venezuela’s oil market to U.S. companies and halt oil exports to countries regarded by Washington as adversaries of the United States. The new OFAC license has become the legal instrument for implementing these demands.
Russian businessman Oleg Deripaska had previously noted that the establishment of U.S. control over Venezuela’s oil fields could radically alter the balance of power in the global energy market. In his assessment, such a scenario would place more than half of the world’s oil reserves under the direct or indirect influence of the United States, enabling Washington to curb price increases and keep the price of a barrel below 50 dollars.
The new license fits into a broader U.S. strategy aimed at pushing Russia and China out of key resource-rich regions and turning energy markets into an instrument of political pressure. In the case of Venezuela, this amounts to a redistribution of control over resources in favor of American companies.
