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President Donald Trump’s Venezuela policy showed signs of taking effect this week as the country reopened oil wells closed under a U.S. embargo and restarted crude exports, according to Reuters.
Two supertankers departed Venezuelan waters late Monday carrying about 1.8 million barrels of crude each, moves that may mark the first shipments under a proposed 50-million-barrel supply deal between Caracas and Washington, according to the report.
The vessels were heading north toward the Caribbean on Tuesday, LSEG ship-tracking data showed, per the outlet, where oil traders, producers and refiners lease storage tanks before onward shipment.
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The developments come after weeks in which oil exports had largely ground to a halt, following intensified U.S. pressure that sharply reduced shipments and left millions of barrels stranded in storage.
During the export freeze, U.S. oil major Chevron was the only company authorized to ship Venezuelan crude under a limited U.S. license, Reuters reported.
The U.S. has moved aggressively to take control of Venezuela’s oil future after the U.S. captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, leading to the collapse of his regime.
Decades of underinvestment, nationalization and sanctions have gutted Venezuela’s oil sector. The country produced as much as 3.5 million barrels per day in the 1970s, but mismanagement and limited foreign investment drove output sharply lower. Production averaged about 1.1 million barrels per day last year.
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The country’s overall crude output fell to about 880,000 barrels per day last week, down from 1.16 million barrels per day in late November, with the Orinoco Belt seeing a steep drop to about 410,000 barrels per day from 675,000 barrels per day, independent figures seen by Reuters showed.
Trump last week unveiled a plan to refine and sell up to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan oil that had been stuck under a U.S. blockade, framing the effort as part of a broader push to reshape Venezuela’s oil industry with U.S. companies expected to play a central role.
Trump also met with nearly two dozen top oil and gas executives at the White House, saying American energy firms would invest heavily to rebuild Venezuela’s oil infrastructure and boost production.
On Friday, Trump signed an executive order blocking U.S. courts from seizing Venezuelan oil revenues held in American Treasury accounts, declaring that such actions would pose an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to U.S. national security and foreign policy.
The order states that the funds remain the sovereign property of Venezuela and are not available to private creditors.
Broader U.S. sanctions on Venezuela remain in place, with Washington allowing only limited, tightly controlled oil transactions.
