The United States Government has knocked on the door of American oil companies to ask if they would return to Venezuela in a hypothetical scenario of President Nicolás Maduro leaving power, according to the specialized media Político.
The Donald Trump Administration has carried out these contacts through the State Department and a former executive of PDVSA, the Venezuelan state oil company.
American companies did not respond favorably, pointing to the low price of a barrel of oil and the political instability in the South American country, three anonymous sources told Politico.
In recent days, Trump has escalated his rhetoric toward Venezuela, the country with the largest proven oil reserves in the world, specifically signaling an interest in accessing the South American nation’s crude oil.
This same Wednesday, the president told the press that the US wants back the oil rights that North American companies had in Venezuela.
During his first term, the Republican imposed strong sanctions on the Government of Nicolás Maduro, including against the oil industry, attacking the country’s main export product and the most important source of income.
Last week, Washington seized a ship that had left Venezuela and confiscated the crude oil it was transporting. This action adds to the growing US military presence in the Caribbean, which includes the bombing of boats leaving Venezuela – calling them transporting drugs – which has already left more than 90 dead.
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The Venezuelan oil industry was nationalized on January 1, 1976, during the first presidency of Carlos Andrés Pérez, and the rights to explore and exploit the country’s fields were reserved for PDVSA.
In 2007, then-president Hugo Chávez modified the rules on the oil industry to force transnational companies to become minority partners of PDVSA or withdraw from the country.
Despite the tension between Washington and Caracas, the American company Chevron operates in Venezuela associated with PDVSA thanks to a license from the Treasury Department that exempts it from the sanctions imposed on Venezuelan crude oil.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said Wednesday that the United States created Venezuela’s oil industry and called its nationalization “the largest recorded theft of American wealth and property.”
Until now, the Trump Administration assured that its pressure strategy on Venezuela sought to combat drug trafficking, as it accuses the Government of Nicolás Maduro of leading an alleged cartel called the Cartel of the Suns.
Trump has promised to begin “soon” attacks against drug trafficking in Venezuelan territory, while Maduro has urged his citizens to join citizen militias to defend the country.
With information from EFE
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