Washington is preparing to reimpose oil sanctions on Venezuela

News from oil price on April 17, 2024: The Biden administration may be preparing to reimpose oil sanctions on Venezuela because President Nicolas Maduro has violated the existing temporary 

sanctions relief conditions and tried to suppress the opposition before this year's elections. On Wednesday, the Biden administration said that sanctions may be reimposed after the six-month interim agreement expires on Thursday. 

Venezuela's elections are scheduled to be held on July 28. Maduro has tirelessly banned opposition candidates, used fabricated criminal charges to prevent them from voting, and arrested many opposition figures suspected of planning a coup. 

Although the Biden administration has always followed the strategy of re-engaging with Venezuela, certain conditions must be met to continue to lift sanctions. 

Unnamed Bloomberg sources also said that if Venezuela fails to appease the Biden administration, Washington plans to let the lifting of sanctions expire at midnight on Thursday. 

Bloomberg sources believe that if the Venezuelan government extends the deadline for the registration of candidates to participate in the July elections, or if the opposition chooses Governor Manuel Rosales because he is the only opposition figure willing to negotiate directly with Maduro, which makes him less attractive in the opposition, then sanctions may continue. 

Last week, the United States held secret meetings, but the results of these talks have not yet been reflected in specific actions. According to Reuters, the sanctions are about to expire as Venezuela and Chevron enter into new negotiations on expanding their joint venture with state-owned PDVSA in the Orinoco River belt. 

Since the lifting of sanctions in October 2023, Venezuela has been pursuing a strategy to expand oil production from less than 800,000 barrels per day to more than 1 million barrels per day, although if sanctions are allowed to expire, these ambitious goals will not be achieved. 

The relaxation of sanctions has helped Venezuela increase oil export revenue. According to Reuters estimates in January, this year's forecast is US220 billion, while last year's total oil revenue was US112 billion.