Eni wins exclusive rights to Venezuela's Junin 5 as US licences open the sector
The US Treasury's OFAC issued three amended general licences on 2 September opening Venezuelan coal, mineral and gold activity, contract negotiation and related supplies to US persons. Days later, at a ceremony led by Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Chevron valued a deal to develop two more of Venezuela's Orinoco fields at $7 billion, Italy's Eni obtained exclusive exploration rights to the Junin 5 field, and GE Vernova agreed to repair Venezuela's power grid.
Geopolitics··Evening
OFAC issues three licences opening Venezuela's coal and minerals sector
The US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control issued three amended general licences on 2 September covering Venezuela's coal and minerals sector, including gold. General Licence 51D authorises certain activities involving Venezuelan-origin coal or minerals; General Licence 54C authorises the supply of items and services for coal or mineral operations in Venezuela; and General Licence 55A authorises negotiating and entering into contingent contracts for investment in Venezuela's sector. The same notice reminded US persons holding blocked Venezuelan property as of 30 June to file an annual report by 30 September, warning that a missed deadline may draw an enforcement referral.[1]
Chevron and Eni unveil new Venezuela deals at the ceremony
Days after the licences were issued, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright oversaw a ceremony that drew on the opening OFAC's Venezuela licences created, in which Chevron valued its agreement to develop two more Orinoco Belt oilfields at $7 billion and said output there would double within five years. Italy's Eni obtained exclusive exploration rights to the Junin 5 field, and GE Vernova agreed to repair Venezuela's electricity grid. Interim President Delcy Rodríguez said the country expects to earn $209 billion over 25 years from the wider push.[1], [2]
Venezuela's oil output and Maduro's New York prosecution
The push Rodríguez described grants US-led entities 100-year concessions over 17 oilfields, roughly a fifth of Venezuela's reserves. Venezuela's oil output currently stands at 1.25 million barrels a day, and the government projects 2 million barrels a day by the end of the decade. Nicolás Maduro, taken in a US military raid in January, is being prosecuted in New York, and Rodríguez now runs the country.[2]
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