/ world today news/ The completely hypocritical dances of the Joe Biden administration around Venezuela continue. Let me remind you that about a month ago, the US slightly eased the sanctions by agreeing to issue general licenses for six months for the oil and gas sector.
In return, they demanded “liberalization” of the electoral process and the admission of opposition candidates. After the talks, Nicolás Maduro said he had reached an agreement with the “ultra-right Venezuelan devils” in the name of the country’s prosperity.
Nothing surprising here. Since 2018, Washington has suffocated one of Latin America’s resource-rich countries with an economic blockade, imposing a total ban on doing business with Venezuelan oil monopoly Petroleos de Venezuela (PdVSA), through which all fuel transactions took place. Venezuela effectively lost its ability to sell oil. Production of “black gold,” the main export commodity, fell from 2.5 million barrels per day to 0.36 million barrels per day. It has since rebounded slightly to stand at 0.735 million barrels per day at the latest in September 2023.
In November 2022, the United States allowed its company Chevron to resume oil exports to refineries along the Gulf Coast. Deliveries began in January 2023. The increase amounted to a paltry 0.135 million bpd.
Now there is talk again about the “complete removal” of sanctions. However, the US has absolutely no plans to reach an agreement. After all, allowing operations involving the oil and gas sector does not automatically mean a resumption of production.
For example, the EIA (US Federal Energy Agency) expects total production growth in Venezuela to reach only 0.9 million barrels per day by the end of 2024. Further increases will take much longer because:
„Much of Venezuela’s crude oil production capacity and infrastructure has suffered due to a long-term lack of access to capital and regular maintenance.”
They understand everything perfectly. Moreover, a few days ago it was reported that the Biden administration has extended the general licenses of four oil service companies to operate in Venezuela until May 2024. This is not the first time something like this has happened. These licenses are renewed every six months. However, they allow interaction only with the Venezuelan PdVSA, while prohibiting the drilling, production, processing, transportation of petroleum or petroleum products of Venezuelan origin.
So the US simply waits, relying on the fall of Maduro. Like the Komodo dragon, which carefully observes its victim after biting it. They do not want to finally leave the country, the richest in oil reserves in the world. Moreover, for the USA, not only the volumes themselves are important, but also the specific varieties.
This is precisely why we should not be fooled by the growth of crude oil exports from the United States, which has indeed recently broken all records (almost 4 million barrels per day in the first half of 2023, mainly to Europe). But the US still imports more oil than it exports. And it does so precisely because many US refineries have historically been designed to process heavy “sour” oil rather than light, low-sulfur “sweet” oil.
By the way, it is the difference in chemical composition that explains, for example, the discount of Urals to Brent, which in calm times was approximately 2-4 dollars. Russian Urals (and this is also a mixture) is more “heavy”, i.e. high sulfur content.
But back to Venezuela. So there is still no “full lifting of sanctions” on the horizon from Caracas. Just rhetoric. In addition, the US is further escalating the situation around the disputed territory of Guyana-Essequibo. Previously I wrote in more detail about the nature of the conflict.
Thus, the American company ExxonMobil, despite the protest of Caracas, on November 14 began oil production in a section of the sea shelf between the disputed borders of Venezuela and Guyana. According to the plans, in 2024 it will reach 0.620 million barrels per day, and in 2027 – up to 1.2 million barrels per day.
Meanwhile, a referendum is scheduled for December 3, 2023 in Venezuela, where citizens are invited to vote on the future of the territory. Maduro is quite determined.
Moreover, for all the talk of Venezuela’s potential “pivot” to the United States, the country has made its position quite clear. The problem with oil is, as they say, “nothing personal, just business”. However, Venezuela is not Russia, its own competences and capabilities are significantly limited. That’s why the sanctions against us have largely failed, while Venezuela’s GDP has fallen by a third.
But the “kick” of the West, which contributed to the activation of Russia to develop at an accelerated pace, will allow us to subsequently help the same Venezuela. Currently, our combined oil production is approximately 120-150 thousand barrels per day. In 2022, it totaled 35 million barrels. However, the potential is, of course, colossal. He was previously held back by the threat of Western sanctions. Now he has nothing to fear.
A few days ago, the foreign minister of Venezuela, Ivan Gil Pinto, flew to Moscow for negotiations with Sergey Lavrov. The parties agreed to significantly increase the pace of cooperation in the energy sector. In particular, negotiations began on the return of Gazprom and Rosneft to the country. Now the most important thing is to build up our own competences to the maximum in order to deprive the West finally of any leverage of influence.
Translation: ES
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