Trump cuts financial lifeline for Venezuela's government by ending
permit to export oil to US
 [February 27, 2025] By
REGINA GARCIA CANO
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — A permit issued by the United States
government allowing energy giant Chevron Corp. to pump and export
Venezuelan oil will be terminated this week, President Donald Trump
announced Wednesday, ending what became a financial lifeline for the
South American country.
Trump’s announcement in his Truth Social network accused the government
of President Nicolás Maduro of not meeting democratic conditions for
last year’s July presidential election as well as of not moving fast
enough to transport back to Venezuela immigrants set for deportation.
“We are hereby reversing the concessions that Crooked Joe Biden gave to
Nicolás Maduro, of Venezuela, on the oil transaction agreement,” Trump
wrote.
Trump's post did not specifically mention 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 sale
Venezuelan oil in the U.S. But it is the only Venezuela-related license
whose issuance and renewal information match the dates Trump did mention
in his social media post.
The administration of President Joe Biden authorized the license in 2022
after Maduro agreed to work with Venezuela’s political opposition toward
a democratic election. But the election, which took place in July 2024,
was neither fair nor free, and Maduro was sworn in last month for a
third six-year term despite credible evidence that his opponent got more
votes.
Biden’s government for months then resisted calls from Venezuela’s
opposition and others to rescind the license, whose goal the U.S.
initially said was “to support the restoration of democracy.” The
opposition has estimated that Maduro's government has received about $4
billion through the permit, which was set to be renewed Saturday.
Over time, the license has become responsible for roughly a quarter of
Venezuela’s oil production.
“We are aware of today’s announcement and are considering its
implications," Chevron spokesman Bill Turenne said in a statement.
"Chevron conducts its business in Venezuela in compliance with all laws
and regulations, including the sanctions framework provided by U.S.
government.”
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.
More than 7.7 million Venezuelans have left their homeland since 2013,
when the oil-dependent economy came undone and Maduro became president.
Most settled in Latin America and the Caribbean, but after the pandemic,
they increasingly set their sights on the U.S.
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Chevron President in Venezuela, Javier La Rosa, left, attends a
signing agreement ceremony between Venezuela and the
California-based Chevron, in Caracas, Venezuela, Dec. 2, 2022. (AP
Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)
 Wednesday's announcement, which
Venezuela's 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 Trump envoy to Caracas, the capital. Shortly
after that visit, Venezuela's government began taking back migrants
deported from the U.S.
Rodriguez in a statement warned that decisions similar to
Wednesday's “drove migration from 2017 to 2021 with the widely known
consequences.”
The U.S. government does not recognize Maduro as Venezuela’s
president. Under Biden and then Trump, the U.S. considers retired
diplomat Edmundo González the winner of the July 28 election.
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 Trump's
first administration 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.
It is unclear exactly how Maduro’s government has used that money as
it stopped publishing almost all financial data several years ago.
On Wednesday, opposition leader Maria Corina Machado in a podcast
interview with Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., accused Maduro of
using the funds for “for repression, persecution and corruption.”
“This is a huge step, and it sends a clear, clear, firm message that
Maduro is in huge trouble,” she said.
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