The measure would facilitate oil sales and come within days, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has stated that Washington may lift certain sanctions against Venezuela within days to facilitate oil sales. His remarks followed US President Donald Trump’s insistence that the US requires “total access” to the country’s crude.
In an interview with Reuters on Friday, Bessent said the US Treasury was already “de-sanctioning the oil that is going to be sold” and was examining changes to help repatriate proceeds from Venezuelan crude mostly stored on ships back to the country.
“How can we help that get back into Venezuela, to run the government, run the security services and get it to the Venezuelan people?” he said, adding that more sanctions could be removed “as soon as next week,” without specifying which measures.
He also mentioned that nearly $5 billion worth of the country’s frozen IMF Special Drawing Rights could be used to assist in rebuilding the economy. Bessent also suggested that smaller privately held companies were likely to quickly reenter Venezuela’s oil sector.
However, some major US oil companies remain cautious. On Friday, Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods described Venezuela, which has the world’s largest oil reserves, as “uninvestible” under current conditions, citing weak legal protections and past nationalizations.
Bessent’s remarks followed a US attack on Caracas and the kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who was flown to New York to face drug trafficking and weapons possession charges he denies.
After the kidnapping, US President Donald Trump said Washington would “run” Venezuela while cooperating with the officials in Caracas until a transition was achieved, while emphasizing that the US needs “total access… to the oil and to other things in their country.”
Days later, Trump announced that Venezuela’s interim authorities would “turn over” 30 to 50 million barrels of “sanctioned oil” to be sold and “used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States.”
Meanwhile, Caracas said it was open to dialogue with the US but warned that the country “will never return to being the colony of another empire.”