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☆ Venezuela, Chevron formally sign oil contracts in Caracas
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Deisy Buitrago | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

CARACAS, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Venezuela's oil minister and top representatives of state-run company PDVSA on Friday signed contracts with U.S. oil firm Chevron Corp (CVX.N) intended to help revive the nation's oil output and expand operations. "This is an important step towards the right direction, but yet insufficient," said oil minister Tareck El Aissami after the signing ceremony. The event took place at PDVSA's Caracas headquarters and was attended by El Aissami, Chevron's President for Venezuela, Javier La Rosa, and PDVSA President Asdrubal Chavez. The authorization was required because of U.S. sanctions on PDVSA and Venezuela's oil sector. Earlier this year, OFAC authorized Chevron to hold meetings with Venezuelan officials, including people specifically sanctioned by Washington, like El Aissami.

☆ Venezuela and Chevron sign oil contract in Caracas
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Kareem El Damanhoury | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —The Venezuelan government and American oil company Chevron have signed a contract in Caracas on Friday to resume operations in Venezuela, according to the country’s state broadcaster VTV. “This contract aims to continue with the productive and development activities in this energy sector, framed within our Constitution and the Venezuelan laws that govern oil activity in the country,” said Venezuelan oil minister Tareck El Aissami, who was slapped with United States sanctions in 2017. He attended the signing ceremony along with representatives from Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company PDVSA and Chevron. April 2023 will mark Chevron’s 100th anniversary in Venezuela, El Aissami said at the event. In 2017, OFAC said El Aissami had played a “significant role in international narcotics trafficking,” according to a news release.

☆ Venezuela's Maduro could miss Lula inauguration
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BRASILIA, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Heads of state and governments will be attending President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's inauguration on Jan. 1, but one might have trouble entering Brazil - Venezuela's leftist president, Nicolas Maduro. Lula's transition team have not sent out invitations yet, but aides said that all countries with diplomatic ties to Brazil would be invited. An order signed in August 2019 under outgoing far-right President Jair Bolsonaro barred high-ranking Venezuelan government officials from visiting Brazil. She plans to leave Brazil before Lula becomes president. "She wasn't going to wait and give them the chance to tell her to leave," said a spokesperson for Belandria.

☆ Longtime Caracas bakeries enjoy sweet benefits of dollarization
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Mayela Armas | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

CARACAS, Dec 1 (Reuters) - After years of struggle, veteran bakeries in Venezuela's capital Caracas are cooking up a variety of delectables, in the latest sign that the country's slight economic boost is reviving some family-owned small businesses. Dollarization meant freedom from the troughs and peaks of Venezuela's local currency, extra dough for spending in some sectors, and greater ease for importing certain ingredients, like wheat flour. Processing and distribution of wheat flour was under state control for years and supplies were intermittent, leading to lower production, while Venezuelans saw bread rationed. Venezuela imports wheat flour for processing. Despite the county's economic improvement, low salaries remain a hurdle for bakeries looking to grow.

☆ Colombia could be open to buying Venezuela's Monomeros -Finance Minister
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BOGOTA, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Colombia could be open to buying Venezuelan fertilizer maker Monomeros, Finance Minister Jose Antonio Ocampo said on Wednesday, at a time when higher fertilizer prices have contributed to inflationary pressure. Though Monomeros is based in the Colombian city of Barranquilla, it is owned by Pequiven, which is a unit of Venezuelan state-owned oil company PDVSA. The government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro regained control of Monomeros' board of directors in mid-September, following a couple of years when it was controlled by opposition leader Juan Guaido. The recent changes to Monomeros' management occurred at a time when relations between Colombia and Venezuela - particularly in economic and military cooperation - have strengthened, following the election of Colombian President Gustavo Petro. Reporting by Carlos Vargas and Nelson Bocanegra Writing by Oliver Griffin Editing by Mark PotterOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

But satellite images and photos show the Chinese-owned ship had loaded the oil four months earlier in Venezuela, an OPEC nation in South America under U.S. oil sanctions. Two of those tankers, including the Young Yong, were designated this month by U.S. authorities for violating sanctions on Iran, one of Venezuela's closest allies. The U.S. Treasury declined to comment on the involvement of the Young Yong or the other vessels identified by Reuters in shipping Venezuela crude. Indonesian authorities said in early November that the Young Yong had run aground off the Riau Islands on Oct. 26. The United States imposed oil trading sanctions on Venezuela in 2019 after calling Maduro's re-election the previous year a sham.

The United States on Saturday granted Chevron a six-month license to operate in Venezuela, reinstating oil trading privileges it had, while preventing exchanges of cash and requiring the crude cargoes go to U.S. refiners. Executives at Venezuelan state firm PDVSA initially welcomed the authorization for a partial return to the United States, once the country's most important market. In addition, European oil companies Eni (ENI.MI) and Repsol won U.S. approvals to take Venezuelan crude for debt repayment. Chevron's Venezuelan oil cargoes face potential seizures by creditors that have arbitration claims and court judgments, said trading experts and lawyers. Washington placed tight reins on the oil imports to win support from a Congress skeptical of deals with Maduro.

POLITICAL TALKSFollowing oil sanctions on Venezuela in 2019, Chevron received an exemption to trade its Venezuelan crude to recoup pending debts. Chevron's four PDVSA joint ventures produced about 200,000 barrels per day of crude oil and exported the crude around the world prior to the sanctions. It also allows the U.S. company to import supplies to help process the country's crude oil into exportable grades. That limits any wider expansion of Venezuelan oil production. Chevron and other U.S. oil refiners could benefit from supplies of Venezuela's heavy crude flowing to their U.S. Gulf Coast processing plants.

☆ Biden eases Venezuela sanctions as opposition talks resume
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-26 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Saturday eased some oil sanctions on Venezuela in an effort to support newly restarted negotiations between President Nicolás Maduro’s government and its opposition. The Treasury Department is allowing Chevron to resume “limited” energy production in Venezuela after years of sanctions that have dramatically curtailed oil and gas profits that have flowed to Maduro’s government. Under the new policy, profits from the sale of energy would be directed to paying down debt owed to Chevron, rather than providing profits to PDVSA. Talks between the Maduro government and the “Unitary Platform” resumed in Mexico City on Saturday after more than a yearlong pause. The official said the U.S. would closely monitor Maduro’s commitment to the talks and reserved the right to reimpose stricter sanctions or to continue to ease them depending on how the negotiations proceed.

The U.S. will require that Chevron report details of its financial operations to ensure transparency. WASHINGTON—The U.S. said it would allow Chevron Corp. to resume pumping oil from its Venezuelan oil fields after President Nicolás Maduro’s government and an opposition coalition agreed to implement an estimated $3 billion humanitarian relief program and continue dialogue in Mexico City on efforts to hold free and fair elections. Following the Norwegian-brokered agreement signed in Mexico City, the Biden administration granted a license to Chevron that allows the California-based oil company to return to its oil fields in joint ventures with the Venezuela national oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA. The new license, granted by the Treasury Department, permits Chevron to pump Venezuelan oil for the first time in years.

☆ Chevron Gets New U.S. License to Pump Oil in Venezuela Again
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-26 | by ( Andrew Restuccia | Collin Eaton | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—The U.S. said it would allow Chevron Corp. to resume pumping oil from its Venezuelan oil fields after President Nicolás Maduro ’s government and an opposition coalition agreed to implement a humanitarian program and continue dialogue in Mexico City on efforts to hold free and fair elections. Following the agreement, the Biden administration granted Chevron a license that would allow the California-based oil company to return to its Venezuelan oil fields in joint ventures with Venezuela’s national oil company Petróleos de Venezuela SA. The new license, granted by the Treasury Department, would permit Chevron to pump Venezuelan oil for the first time in years.

The decision allows Chevron to revive existing oil projects in the U.S.-sanctioned country and bring new oil supplies to refiners in the United States. However, it restricts cash payments to Venezuela, which could reduce the amount of oil available to Chevron. License terms are designed to prevent Venezuelan state-run oil firm PDVSA from receiving proceeds from Chevron's Venezuelan petroleum sales, U.S. officials said. A Chevron spokesperson said the company was reviewing the license terms and declined immediate comment. Proceeds due Venezuela from Chevron's oil sales would go into a humanitarian fund rather than to PDVSA.

☆ Venezuela's anti-inflation efforts dealt blow as currency tumbles
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Cynthia Kim | Jihoon Lee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

For months, President Nicolas Maduro's administration has sought to fight inflation by anchoring the bolivar's exchange rate. It has increased the supply of foreign currency cash in local banks and limited the expansion of credit and public spending. The local currency has depreciated 17% since October, and 55% so far this year. Both economists said the government may be fine with letting the exchange rate slide a little more, if it allows them to spend again. The central bank did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

TERMS OF THE LICENSEThe terms readied for approval will prevent Venezuela's state-run oil firm PDVSA from receiving proceeds from Chevron's oil sales. And they will "the use of corrupt shadow firms that control the flow of Venezuela oil to countries like China," said a person familiar with the matter in Washington. The United States this year has kept oil prices from soaring by releasing more than 200 million barrels of the nation's emergency oil reserves. Chevron is a partner with PDVSA in several oil joint ventures that pump and process crude oil for export. Following oil sanctions on Venezuela in 2019, Chevron got an exemption to trade its Venezuelan crude to recoup billions of dollars in pending debt.

☆ Venezuela Opposition Leader Juan Guaidó Vows to Fight On
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Kejal Vyas | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó keeps in his office a countdown to 2024, when presidential elections are supposed to take place. CARACAS, Venezuela—Hunched over a tablet at his office in a rundown shopping center, the man the U.S. considers Venezuela’s legitimate president watched videos of the country’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro, as he shook hands with world leaders at the United Nations climate summit in Egypt. It was the latest sign of the isolated situation for Juan Guaidó as the head of Venezuela’s opposition, which despite widespread support at home and abroad has been unable to remove Mr. Maduro from office.

If approved, its gas could restart an idled liquefaction train with a 500 million cubic feet per day (cf/d) capacity at Trinidad's flagship Atlantic LNG project. The facility is a venture mainly including Shell (SHEL.L), BP and state-owned National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago (NGC). YEARS OF WORK AHEADTrinidad is Latin America's largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter, with installed capacity to process 4.2 billion cf/d into LNG, petrochemicals and power. Even if Washington granted Trinidad's request, it could take years of investment and development to bring Venezuelan gas to Trinidad and boost LNG to Europe. That project follows an amended production sharing contract for the Manatee gas field in Trinidad, which extends to Venezuela's Loran field.

☆ Venezuela's monthly inflation slows to 6.2% in October
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

CARACAS, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Venezuela's monthly inflation in October hit 6.2%, a sharp slowdown from September when prices rose 28.7%, according to data released on Friday by the country's central bank. President Nicolas Maduro's government has tapped the brakes on inflation with orthodox economic policies aimed at exchange-rate stabilization, reduced public spending and tax hikes. Year-on-year inflation stood at 155.79%, according to Reuters calculations based on central bank figures, the highest in the Latin American region. High prices coupled with a de facto dollarization in some sectors have severely widened wage gaps between public and private sector workers. The minimum wage is equivalent to about $15 per month and has not been revised since last March.

☆ Venezuela's long-suffering manufacturers face new challenge: Colombian imports
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Deisy Buitrago | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The change opens Venezuela to more imports from its neighbor as domestic manufacturers are still struggling, though some got a boost from a de facto dollarization. Tini's company Full Time, one of Venezuela's largest shoe manufacturers, is set to increase production to 20,000 pairs this year from 12,000 in 2021, but imports worry him. Local industries "cannot compete on equal terms with Colombian products," said Luigi Pisella, president of Conindustria, one of the top business associations representing Venezuela's manufacturers. Between January and August this year, the Colombian government's DANE statistics agency valued the country's exports to Venezuela at some $400 million while Venezuelan imports to Colombia were just $56 million. Business people said there are few incentives for manufacturers, high taxes and not enough efforts to combat inflation.

[1/2] Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro speaks at the meeting with Colombia's President Gustavo Petro (not pictured) at Miraflores Palace, in Caracas, Venezuela November 1, 2022. "We are working on resuming the dialogue process in November," said one of the people familiar with the arrangements. Maduro and Colombia President Gustavo Petro said in a joint statement on Tuesday they hoped for "a successful return" to the dialogues. This makes resumption of talks crucial for the opposition coalition, which has been diminished by exile, imprisonment of leaders, internal fractures and lack of funds. The talks were abandoned by Maduro's envoys a year ago after disagreements over the extradition of an ally of the Venezuelan president who faces money laundering charges.

☆ Colombia, Venezuela Leaders Meet Amid Thawing Relations
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Kejal Vyas | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

BOGOTÁ, Colombia—The leaders of Colombia and Venezuela met Tuesday for the first time in six years, the latest sign of how new leftist governments in Latin America are breaking from a U.S.-led campaign that unsuccessfully sought to oust Venezuela’s authoritarian President Nicolás Maduro . Colombian President Gustavo Petro , a former guerrilla who once held close ties to Venezuela’s ruling socialist party, traveled to Caracas to have lunch with Mr. Maduro and discuss bilateral trade. Mr. Petro said he would also call on Mr. Maduro to commit to promoting democracy in the region and ending political persecution.

☆ Latin America's 'pink tide' leaders congratulate Brazil's Lula on election win
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Steven Grattan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SAO PAULO, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Latin America leaders on Sunday congratulated Brazil's Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva after he won a third term as president of the largest country in South America, consolidating the region's "pink tide" of elected leftist leaders. His victory over far-right president Jair Bolsonaro leaves Brazil joining Colombia, Mexico, Argentina, Chile and Peru in a growing leftist bloc. "Long live Lula," tweeted Colombia's Gustavo Petro, who in June was elected his country's first leftist president. But the pink tide returned as rampant inflation and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic led frustrated voters in Latin America to ditch mainstream parties and follow promises of greater social spending. "Your victory strengthens democracy and integration in Latin America."

☆ "They shut the door on us": Venezuelans ask Mexico for humanitarian flights home
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Lizbeth Diaz | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Dozens of Venezuelans like Villalobos and her eight-year-old son arrived on Tuesday night at a migrant house in Mexico City funded by the Catholic Church while awaiting a seat on a humanitarian flight. "I want to return to my country because they shut the door on us, in our faces," the 27-year-old said. A first flight returning Venezuelan migrants from Mexico departed on Tuesday, two Mexican officials told Reuters. The Mexican foreign ministry told Reuters a flight paid for by the Mexican government carrying Venezuelan migrants was scheduled to leave on Wednesday. The announcement was made while dozens of Venezuelans protested outside Mexico's foreign ministry in Mexico City, demanding help.

Migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border are prompting U.S. President Joe Biden's administration to call for unfreezing Venezuelan funds held in foreign banks that would provide needed food and medicine, the sources told Reuters. It also has some in Venezuela's opposition parties worried about the political impact of releasing funds that Maduro could claim credit for ahead of a potential 2024 presidential election. The United Nations drafted a first proposal to oversee the fund in mid-October, the sources told Reuters. Opposition envoys discussed the aid package with U.S. officials during their meetings last week in Washington, four of the sources said. For the United Nations, it could become one of the largest funds ever handled, even though the total amount that could be legally released is not clear.

☆ Freed From Venezuelan Jail, Houston Oil Executive Describes Being Used as a Bargaining Chip
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-23 | by ( Ryan Dube | Kejal Vyas | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Jose Pereira, wearing mask, and five other oil executives who were summoned to Caracas and detained for nearly five years until their release earlier this month, in a photo posted on Twitter by Venezuela’s foreign minister in 2020. For nearly five years, Houston oil executive Jose Pereira was jailed in Venezuela, spending long stretches in isolation in an underground cell, deprived of medication and surviving on chicken scraps and rice. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Pereira said he had lost 100 pounds and survived two bouts of Covid-19 and a heart attack by the time he was freed earlier this month, after high-level talks between the Biden administration and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro ’s authoritarian regime.

But most opposition representatives visiting Washington this week told U.S. officials they would not continue backing him or anyone else as their leader for another year of interim government. Venezuelan opposition representatives who attended the meetings in Washington and a spokesperson for Citgo did not immediately provide a comment. The U.S. State Department said it recognized Guaido and coordinates with his administration "on the steps needed to move forward on a negotiated solution that leads to the restoration of democracy to Venezuela." Five of six opposition-party representatives told State Department officials on Tuesday they would not support Guaido or any other interim leader, the four sources said. read moreUnder U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, the United States recognized Guaido as rightful leader in January 2019, and dozens of other countries followed suit.

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