Politics
US eases oil sanctions on Venezuela after reforms
Caracas: The United States on Thursday eased sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry, expanding the ability of US companies to operate in the country after the lifting of state controls on the sector.
Within an hour of Venezuelan MPs voting to open the oil industry to private investment, the US Treasury Department greenlit a range of activities by US energy companies.
The department issued a general licence allowing transactions relating to “the lifting, exportation, reexportation, sale, resale, supply, storage, marketing, purchase, delivery, or transportation of Venezuelan-origin oil.”
The activities authorised include the refining of oil, the licence said.
Venezuela’s acting president Delcy Rodriguez hailed the reform as a “historical leap.”
“We are taking important steps,” Rodriguez said after a call with US President Donald Trump.
For the future
Trump pressured Caracas to open up its oil fields to US investors after overthrowing his socialist arch-foe Nicolas Maduro in a deadly US bombing raid on Caracas on January 3.
The US president backed Maduro’s deputy Rodriguez to take over, on the proviso that she give Washington access to the world’s largest proven oil reserves.
Rodriguez has appeared eager to comply with his demands, arguing that an influx of foreign capital is needed to revive the battered Venezuelan economy.
The reform adopted Thursday paves the way for the return of US energy majors, two decades after socialist firebrand Hugo Chavez seized foreign oil fields.
It modifies a law dating to 2006 that forced foreign investors to form joint ventures with state oil company PDVSA, which insisted on a majority stake.
Jorge Rodriguez, head of parliament and brother of Venezuela’s new acting president, said the reform will help the country recover from years of living under US sanctions.
“Only good things will come after the suffering,” he said as he gavelled through the law “for history, for the future.”
Trump has said Washington is now “in charge” of Venezuela and Rodriguez will be “turning over” millions of barrels of oil to be sold at market price.
Rodriguez has already ploughed $300 million from a first US sale of Venezuelan crude into shoring up the country’s struggling currency, the bolivar.
Slow recovery
Venezuela sits on about a fifth of the world’s oil reserves.
It was once a major crude supplier to the US, and multiple American firms operated in the country until 2007, when Chavez led a new wave of nationalisations.
The industry is undergoing a slow recovery after being walloped by years of underinvestment, corruption, mismanagement and six years of US sanctions.
It reached production of 1.2 million barrels per day in 2025, a milestone compared to the 300,000 per day extracted in 2020, but far from the 3 million achieved at the start of the century.
Trump, who has lavished praise on Rodriguez, has been pressing oil executives to invest in Venezuela.
Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips exited in 2007 after refusing to cede majority control to the state.
Chevron is the only US firm still operating in Venezuela, under a special sanctions exemption.
The revised law offers greater guarantees to private players, relinquishes state control of exploration, and lowers taxes and royalties.
“This obviously completely dismantles Hugo Chavez’s oil model,” said oil analyst Francisco Monaldi, while pointing out that the state will retain some discretion over the issuing of contracts to private players.
New fields
The US Department of Energy has already unveiled a plan to develop Venezuela’s oil industry and begun marketing Venezuelan crude.
Rodriguez says the reform will bring money for “new fields, to fields where there has never been investment, and to fields where there is no infrastructure.”
The changes are cause for optimism for many in a country battling economic collapse and mass emigration.
“This hydrocarbons reform helps restore our dignity,” Karina Rodriguez, a worker at PDVSA, said at a recent rally.
US President Donald Trump has said India will buy Venezuelan oil, as opposed to purchasing oil from Iran.
“We’ve already made that deal, the concept of the deal,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he travelled to his vacation home in Florida from Washington.
Reuters reported on Friday that the United States has told Delhi it could soon resume purchases of Venezuelan oil to help replace imports of Russian oil, citing three people familiar with the matter.
India has not been importing significant amounts of Iranian oil due to US sanctions, but became a major buyer of Russian oil after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 triggered Western sanctions that drove down its price.
Trump in August doubled duties on imports from India to 50% to pressure New Delhi to stop buying Russian oil, and earlier this month said the rate could rise again if it did not curb its purchases.
However, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent signaled in January that the additional 25% tariff on Indian goods could be removed, given what he called a sharp reduction in Indian imports of Russian oil.
Trump in March 2025 also imposed a 25% tariff on countries buying Venezuelan oil, including India. The US government this week lifted some sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry to make it easier for US companies to sell its crude oil.
Trump’s comments on Saturday appeared to reflect continued improvement in US-India relations, which have been tense throughout the past year.
Trump also said China could make a deal with the US to buy Venezuelan oil.
“China is welcome to come in and would make a great deal on oil,” Trump said, without providing any details.
- Congress leadership condemns Modi for ties, demands answers.
- Cites Modi’s meetings with Trump, Israel trip to allege connection.
- Govt denies any advisory role or meaningful contact with Epstein.
Freshly released files tied to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have sparked attention after an email mentioning Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi surfaced in the latest batch published by the US Department of Justice, drawing a sharp response from New Delhi.
The Jerusalem Post reported on Saturday that one of the emails, attributed to Epstein, refers to Modi’s 2017 state visit to Israel — the first ever by an Indian prime minister.
The message claims Modi acted on Epstein’s advice during the trip, a suggestion Indian authorities have firmly rejected.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the only verifiable fact in the email is Modi’s official visit to Israel, calling the rest of the claims unfounded and misleading.
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal dismissed the remarks as the musings of a convicted criminal, saying there was no evidence of any meaningful contact or advisory role involving Modi and Epstein.
Despite the denial, opposition parties have cited the reference to press the government for an explanation.
Meanwhile, local media reported that the main opposition party, the Indian National Congress, strongly criticised Prime Minister Modi, calling any alleged link with Epstein a matter of deep national shame.
Congress, in a recent statement, said Epstein wrote in an email that Modi took his advice before visiting Israel, claiming Modi “danced and sang” there for the benefit of the US president.
The party said Modi visited Israel from July 4 to 6, 2017, and that Epstein’s email was written three days after the trip.
It added that Modi had met then US President Donald Trump in June 2017, before the Israel visit, claiming this showed a long-standing and deep connection between Modi and Epstein.
The opposition party said the issue concerns national dignity and international credibility and that Modi must answer questions about what advice he took from Epstein and the meaning of the claims made in the email.
Epstein died by suicide in 2019 in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. He was jailed in 2008 for soliciting paid sex from a minor.
A fresh cache of files released on Friday related to the investigation into the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein contains documents that refer to numerous high-profile figures.
President Donald Trump, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and British billionaire Richard Branson are among some of the people named in the documents.
- Congress leadership condemns Modi for ties, demands answers.
- Cites Modi’s meetings with Trump, Israel trip to allege connection.
- Govt denies any advisory role or meaningful contact with Epstein.
Freshly released files tied to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have sparked attention after an email mentioning Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi surfaced in the latest batch published by the US Department of Justice, drawing a sharp response from New Delhi.
The Jerusalem Post reported on Saturday that one of the emails, attributed to Epstein, refers to Modi’s 2017 state visit to Israel — the first ever by an Indian prime minister.
The message claims Modi acted on Epstein’s advice during the trip, a suggestion Indian authorities have firmly rejected.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the only verifiable fact in the email is Modi’s official visit to Israel, calling the rest of the claims unfounded and misleading.
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal dismissed the remarks as the musings of a convicted criminal, saying there was no evidence of any meaningful contact or advisory role involving Modi and Epstein.
Despite the denial, opposition parties have cited the reference to press the government for an explanation.
Meanwhile, local media reported that the main opposition party, the Indian National Congress, strongly criticised Prime Minister Modi, calling any alleged link with Epstein a matter of deep national shame.
Congress, in a recent statement, said Epstein wrote in an email that Modi took his advice before visiting Israel, claiming Modi “danced and sang” there for the benefit of the US president.
The party said Modi visited Israel from July 4 to 6, 2017, and that Epstein’s email was written three days after the trip.
It added that Modi had met then US President Donald Trump in June 2017, before the Israel visit, claiming this showed a long-standing and deep connection between Modi and Epstein.
The opposition party said the issue concerns national dignity and international credibility and that Modi must answer questions about what advice he took from Epstein and the meaning of the claims made in the email.
Epstein died by suicide in 2019 in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. He was jailed in 2008 for soliciting paid sex from a minor.
A fresh cache of files released on Friday related to the investigation into the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein contains documents that refer to numerous high-profile figures.
President Donald Trump, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and British billionaire Richard Branson are among some of the people named in the documents.
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