US says Venezuela oil sanctions relief will lapse in April without electoral progress

The US will not renew General License 44, which eases sanctions on Venezuela's oil and gas sector, when it expires in April unless President Nicolás Maduro lets all presidential candidates take part in the 2024 election, according to a National Security Council statement on 29 January reported by S&P Global. The warning followed the Venezuelan Supreme Court's disqualification of opposition leader María Corina Machado on 26 January. S&P Global said the relief, granted in October 2023, had lifted Venezuelan crude exports to 19 million barrels in November from 16.5 million barrels in October, citing its Commodities at Sea data.

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