U.S. considers allowing limited oil business to continue

Facing a mid-April deadline to decide whether to extend a temporary suspension of sanctions it granted Venezuela last fall, the Biden administration is considering ways to impose new limits on oil sales by the government of President Nicolás Maduro without increasing the number of Venezuelan migrants, raising gas prices or angering other Latin American governments.

Heavy sanctions barring oil sales, imposed by the Trump administration, were lifted in October after Maduro promised he would allow competitive presidential elections this summer. Since then, the Venezuelan president has arrested members of the opposition and barred their main candidate from the race, leading the State Department to say in late January that, absent progress from Maduro, it would not renew a six-month sanctions suspension due to expire April 18.

The U.S. Treasury “general license” issued last year allows buyers from around the world to purchase Venezuelan crude and pay for it in U.S. dollars for the first time since former President Donald Trump’s maximum pressure policy effectively removed it from the international market. In the wake of Maduro’s failure to live up to his side of the bargain, the administration wants to punish him while avoiding losing what it gained from the agreement, negotiated at the urging of the Venezuelan opposition.

Under one proposal on the table, the Treasury Department would impose a new sanctions regime allowing Venezuela to continue to sell crude to international customers but not for the U.S. dollars that are the market’s dominant currency.