(Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is preparing to issue a narrowly tailored license to Chevron, allowing the company to conduct minimal maintenance of essential operations in Venezuela, Bloomberg News reported on Friday.
The U.S. Treasury Department plans to grant the waiver allowing Chevron to carry out only critical upkeep and safety-related functions in Venezuela, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
Chevron, the U.S. State Department and Treasury Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The U.S. company’s license to do business in the South American country is set to expire next week, but most partners of Venezuela’s sanctioned state-run oil firm PDVSA have requested extensions.
Any extension would need to be approved by the U.S. Treasury and State Departments. The State Department provides guidance for the Treasury to rule on any changes to sanction regimes.
Venezuela has some of the world’s largest reserves of oil, but its crude output remains at a fraction of what it was a decade ago after a lack of investment, mismanagement at PDVSA and U.S. sanctions on Venezuela’s energy industry since 2019.
The licenses to Chevron and other foreign firms have supported a slight recovery in Venzuelan oil output and exports since 2023.
(Reporting by Gursimran Kaur in Bengaluru; Editing by Kate Mayberry)
