The refinery El Palito in Puerto Cabello, Carabobo state, Venezuela, on Jan. 22, 2026. Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP via Getty Images
The U.S. Treasury Department on Jan. 29 issued a general license easing some sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry, authorizing established American companies to engage in the sale, transport, and refining of the country’s crude shortly after Venezuelan lawmakers approved changes to the nation’s main oil law.
General License No. 46 from the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) permits transactions ordinarily prohibited under Venezuela sanctions regulations, including those involving state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PdVSA) and its affiliates. It applies to lifting, exporting, selling, storing, marketing, purchasing, delivering, or transporting Venezuelan-origin oil by U.S. entities formed before Jan. 29, 2025, provided contracts are governed by U.S. law and that payments to blocked parties go into designated U.S.-controlled accounts.
