The Chevron Corp. offices in Caracas, Venezuela, on Thursday, Dec. 1, 2022.
Matias Delacroix | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The U.S. extended Chevron‘s wind-down of oil exports from Venezuela by two months on Monday, after President Donald Trump said that any country buying oil or gas from Venezuela will pay a 25% tariff on any trades made with the United States.
In an expected move, the Trump administration extended until May 27 the wind-down of a license that the U.S. had granted to Chevron since 2022 to operate in sanctioned Venezuela and export its oil. Chevron is only permitted to export that oil to the United States.
Trump had initially given Chevron 30 days from March 4 to wind down that license after he accused President Nicolas Maduro of not making progress on electoral reforms and migrant returns.
Chevron did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Earlier on Monday, Trump announced a “secondary tariff” to take effect on April 2, in a post on Truth Social. The two moves taken together alleviate some pressure on Chevron while putting more pressure on consumers of Venezuelan oil, though it is uncertain how Trump’s administration will enforce the tariff.
Trump is imposing the tariff because, he said, Venezuela has sent “tens of thousands” of people to the United States who have a “very violent nature.”
Benchmark crude oil futures jumped nearly 1.5% on the news of the tariff.
Trump earlier this month invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to justify the deportation of alleged members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua without final removal orders from immigration judges.
China, which already has been the subject of U.S. tariffs, is the largest buyer of Venezuela’s oil, the OPEC member’s main export. In February, China received directly and indirectly some 503,000 barrels per day of Venezuelan crude and fuel, which represented 55% of total exports.
Tariff impositions in China on imports of certain types of Venezuelan oil in past years led to a decline in the volume of Venezuelan crude received by Chinese buyers, which ultimately forced state company PDVSA to widen price discounts to continue selling to its most important market.
Spain, Italy, Cuba and India are other consumers of Venezuelan oil. U.S. imports of the oil are set to end May 27.
There was no immediate response from Maduro’s government to a request for comment.
Trump’s notice of the tariff occurred days after news that Shell Plc SHEL.L aims to begin producing natural gas at Venezuela’s Dragon gas field and exporting it to neighboring Trinidad and Tobago in 2026, a year ahead of the original 2027 start date.
