This week, the US relaxation of sanctions against Venezuela’s oil and gas sector entered a new phase with the publication of a general license authorizing a broad range of upstream oil and gas activities. The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) has been busy with Venezuela-related actions over the past few weeks. We previously blogged about general licenses authorizing oil trading and downstream activities (blog post here) and the…
On February 3, 2026, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) issued new General License No. 47 (“GL 47”) authorizing transactions related to the exportation/reexportation of US-origin diluents (i.e., diluting agents used to reduce viscosity of fluids, e.g., for use in crude oil pipelines) to Venezuela that would otherwise be prohibited under the Venezuela Sanctions Regulations, 31 C.F.R. Part 591. You can find our blog posts about developments under US…
On February 2, 2026, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) reissued General License 5U, “Authorizing Certain Transactions Related to the Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. 2020 8.5 Percent Bond on or After March 20, 2026,” to again delay the effective date of this authorization to March 20, 2026. This development is not related to recent developments in US sanctions targeting Venezuela, which we recently blogged about here. GL 5U authorizes…
On January 29, 2026, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) issued new General License No. 46 (“GL 46”) authorizing transactions related to the exportation/reexportation of Venezuelan oil prohibited under the Venezuela Sanctions Regulations, 31 C.F.R. Part 591. Our blog posts about recent developments under US sanctions targeting Venezuela can be found here, here, here, and here. Subject to certain conditions, GL 46 authorizes all transactions involving the Government of Venezuela…