Management reverses ban on Chevron Venezuela with prisoner swap deals

The Trump administration once again allows Chevron to pump oil in Venezuela, reverses the previous ban.

This reversal is believed to be part of a recent prisoner swap deal in which the remaining 10 Americans detained by the Venezuelan government have resurrected. In exchange, the US arranged for the return of 252 Venezuelans deported to El Salvador’s terrorist prison known as the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT).

Chevron scored A license to conduct business with oil-rich states under the Biden administration in 2022 after Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro expressed openness to conduct fair elections. But a free election never happened – the United States recognized Maduro’s opposition as a legal winner – but Maduro came to power.

In February, the Trump administration revoked Chevron’s license to operate in Venezuela, giving the company a deadline to abolish operations. The move was defended by hard-line critics of the administration, including the Secretary of State. Marco Rubiobut it is covered in the nature of the maga, such as Laura Rumer, who said he would hand over the Venezuelan oil fields to China.

“We are reversing the concessions Joe Biden has given to Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro.” Donald Trump I wrote about the true society of that time.

A Chevron spokesman responded to news of the new licence, saying, “Chevron is conducting business worldwide in compliance with the laws and regulations applicable to its operations, as well as the sanctions framework provided by the US government, including Venezuela.”

In May, Trump and his Venezuelan negotiator Rick Grenell wanted to extend the May deadline, but the idea won a pushback from other Republicans.

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Three Florida House Republicans threatened to vote against Trump’s tax and spending package if the deal moves forward, and Rubio reassuring him on May 27th by intervening his license as planned.

The State Department said it would impose a guardrail, saying, “The Maduro administration cannot profit from selling oil.”

And now, a trio of House Republicans – Rep. Mario Diaz Barrato, Maria Elvira Salazar and Carlos Guimenez have approved the deal.

“No matter what the Maduro administration says, they won’t receive any benefits,” they wrote in a joint statement.

“There is no greater friend of the Venezuelan cause than President Trump, and his record is clear in confronting the anti-American dictators in the Western Hemisphere who always work to undermine US national security.”

This movement occurs amid a shift in foreign policy thinking. Rubio recently issued a memo suggesting that the State Department rarely publicly comment on foreign elections, instead focusing on the strategic interests of the United States rather than the value of the country.

The directive follows Trump’s speech in Saudi Arabia in May, where the president said he would refrain from refraining from other countries from managing domestic issues, reorienting US policies that have urged Middle Eastern intervention for decades.

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The exact terms of the new Chevron license, originally reported by the Wall Street Journal, are unknown, but it is difficult to imagine the Maduro administration agreeing to such a transaction if it does not directly benefit.

“Maduro needs to get something,” Francisco Monardi, director of the Latin American Energy Program at Rice University, told Fox News Digital.

He may view sales to the US as a more cost-effective alternative to sales to China.

“He may be willing to accept relatively tough deals with the United States. “You can’t do much worse than what he gets in China,” Monardi said.

Or he might expect a license similar to the one under the Biden administration, where the government reportedly quietly allowed hundreds of millions of taxes on oil sales to the United States.

Previous Chevron licenses under the Biden administration also did not allow the Maduro administration to collect royalties related to oil sales. However, through the scheme reported by Bloomberg, Chevron is permitted to make certain payments that are essential to its business operations, and the documents show that Chevron has acquired approximately $300 million in taxes owed on Venezuela.

Meanwhile, refiners in the southern US are keen on the “heavy” Venezuela oil flow.

“Venezuelan heavy oil is attractive to refineries in the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana because they are designed to handle heavy oil,” Monardi said.

According to Monardi, the current question is whether the door to other businesses is narrowly restricted and strictly regulated or open to invest in Venezuela’s oil.

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“Would Secretary Rubio enact this policy in a way that Maduro and Chevron are like a bare minimum to make it attractive to work in Venezuela? Will this be a much broader policy of granting licenses not just Chevron, but other companies like Europeans who were in Venezuela and other American companies of interest?” asked Monardi. “All of these require a US license to operate.”

Fox Business has reached out to the White House for comment and has not yet received a reply.

Edward Lawrence from Fox Business contributed to this report.