Generic Hero BannerGeneric Hero Banner
Latest Market News

US gives Chevron more time in Venezuela: Update

  • Spanish Market: Crude oil
  • 17/11/20

Adds comment from Chevron, updates throughout.

The Treasury Department today granted Chevron permission to remain in Venezuela until 3 June 2021, effectively leaving further decisions on the oil major's future in the South American Opec country to US president-elect Joe Biden's incoming administration.

Chevron's current waiver from US oil sanctions imposed on Venezuela in 2019 was due to expire on 1 December. The 180-day extension granted to Chevron also applies to US services giants Halliburton, Schlumberger, Baker Hughes and Weatherford.

Conditions on the waiver remain unchanged, preventing Chevron from drilling, lifting, purchasing or processing Venezuelan-origin crude or oil products. Chevron's main Venezuelan asset is a minority stake in the PetroPiar heavy crude upgrading venture, based in the Orinoco heavy oil belt with an upgrader at the Jose terminal on the coast. The company also has a minority stake in the PetroBoscan heavy crude venture in western Venezuela.

Venezuela's crude production has entered another downswing this month following a US decision to end crude-for-diesel swaps, slipping below an October average of 350,000 b/d after Spanish firm Repsol, Italy's Eni and Indian company Reliance stopped taking the country's crude, local oil industry sources tell Argus. Venezuela's production has fallen by half since Chevron last obtained its waiver in April.

Chevron said it will continue to comply with US sanctions regulations that apply to its Venezuela activities. "We remain committed to the integrity of our joint venture assets, the safety and well-being of our employees and their families, and the company's social and humanitarian programs during these challenging times," Chevron said.

The Biden team has not detailed its approach to existing Venezuela sanctions, but it is understood to view Chevron's presence in the country through the same lens as its predecessor. Supporters of further waiver extensions have argued that forcing Chevron to leave Venezuela would allow Caracas to nationalize US assets and potentially hand them to Russian or Chinese state-controlled companies.

President Donald Trump's administration has set an ambitious goal for its sanctions — forcing out Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro's government — and seems far from satisfying that objective. "On the other hand, I give the Trump administration credit for assembling a real international coalition of Europeans and Latin Americans in support of pressure on the Maduro regime," said Dan Fried, who in 2013-17 coordinated the State Department's sanctions programs. "Staying the course on Venezuela, whatever the odds of near-term success, may be practical," Fried said in a report prepared for Washington-based think tank Atlantic Council.

Maduro routinely blames US sanctions for prolonged hardship, manifested by severe shortages of fuel for transportation, agriculture and power generation. But the decline of Venezuela's oil sector predates US sanctions as a result of decades of mismanagement and labor flight.

Maduro's US-backed rival Juan Guaido, who heads a skeleton interim administration, is now at risk of losing his constitutional standing in 6 December legislative elections that the mainstream opposition is boycotting.


Related news posts

Argus illuminates the markets by putting a lens on the areas that matter most to you. The market news and commentary we publish reveals vital insights that enable you to make stronger, well-informed decisions. Explore a selection of news stories related to this one.

28/01/25

US still eyes 1 February for Canada, Mexico tariffs

US still eyes 1 February for Canada, Mexico tariffs

Washington, 28 January (Argus) — President Donald Trump is still keen to impose tariffs on all imports from Canada and Mexico as soon as 1 February, the White House said today. Trump in multiple public comments since taking office on 20 January said he was still considering a 25pc tariff on Canada and Mexico, even though his administration has yet to provide any details on the proposal. Trump spent much of his meeting on Monday with Republican lawmakers at their annual retreat in Florida blasting Canada and Mexico over their allegedly unfair trade practices. Tariffs should become a key source of income for the US government, just as they were in the nineteenth and early twentieth century before being supplanted by income taxes, Trump told the lawmakers, who are looking at ways to extend tax cuts enacted during his first term and set to expire at the end of 2025. Trump also said he would impose tariffs on all imported computer chips, semiconductors and pharmaceuticals. Trump's messaging on China tariffs has been more mixed. He said last week he would go on with his initial plans to impose a 10pc tax on all imports from China, but he also said he preferred to avoid a trade war with Beijing. An executive order Trump signed on 20 January lays out a process suggesting timelines of June-July for imposing tariffs on the US' key trading partners, with no reference to the 1 February deadline. But Trump has the legal authority to impose tariffs on imports from any country by a variety of executive actions and with very short notice, as he demonstrated over the weekend during a high-profile confrontation with Colombia over deporting migrants from the US. Trump told the lawmakers on Monday that he expects to wield the threat of tariffs as a negotiating tool often, because even "a very strong country" like Colombia caved in to his demands. Canada and Mexico appear to be preparing for a protracted trade confrontation with the US if Trump follows through on his threat, with retaliatory measures targeting specific US products and companies. The looming faceoff has unnerved the US oil producers and refiners, which are warning of severe impacts to the integrated North American energy markets if taxes are imposed on flows from Canada and Mexico to the US. Industry group American Petroleum Institute is lobbying the Trump administration to exempt crude and other energy products from any tariffs he plans to impose. Trump last week shrugged off the arguments from the US energy industry about potential negative impacts from confronting Canada and Mexico. "We don't need their oil and gas," Trump said. "We have our own, we have more than anybody." Almost all of Mexico's roughly 500,000 b/d of crude shipments to the US through November are waterborne, targeting Gulf coast refiners, and can be diverted to Asia or Europe. Canadian producers have much less flexibility — more than 4mn b/d of Canada's exports are wholly dependent on pipeline routes to and through the US. Only around 900,000 b/d can be directed away from the US via the recently expanded Trans Mountain pipeline system to the Pacific coast, although late-2024 flows were actually closer to 400,000 b/d, split evenly between the US west coast and Asia. Conversely, many refineries in the US midcontinent have no practical alternative to the Canadian crude. US gasoline prices would move higher by 30-70¢/USG if the 25pc tariffs that Trump has threatened were applied to Canada's oil, Canada's TD Bank projects. Trump's commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick will face a confirmation hearing at the Senate Commerce committee on Wednesday, with trade wars likely to feature high among the questions lawmakers direct at him. By Haik Gugarats Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

France imported record amount of US crude in November


27/01/25
27/01/25

France imported record amount of US crude in November

Barcelona, 27 January (Argus) — French crude imports in November included a new high from the US. Customs data show imports at 4.3mn t (1.04mn b/d), up by 7pc on the year and down from 4.5mn t a month earlier. Deliveries of US crude were just over 1.25mn t, up from the previous record of slightly more than 1.2mn t in October and December 2023. The latter month had been the highest, but a downwards revision gave that spot to November 2024. US crude imports have been arriving on very large crude carriers (VLCC) at the Mediterranean port of Fos-Lavera. A VLCC of WTI grade crude unloaded there in October, in November and in January. Argus ' tracking shows US crude as the largest single source of imports at the port . Each delivery has been for Rhone Energies' 133,000 b/d Fos refinery. This has been operated since November by a consortium comprising trading firm Trafigura and US-based energy infrastructure company Entara. Kpler data show all three VLCCs were arranged by trading firm Vitol. The US is now by far the biggest supplier to France. It provided 10.2mn t of crude in the January-November period, up from 7.8mn t on the year, ahead of Nigeria with 5.8mn t, Kazakhstan on 4.9mn t and Algeria on 4mn t (see chart) . There is the possibility of further increases in US shipments this year. Rival light sweet grades from Libya are prone to disruption, Nigerian demand for domestic crude is growing as the 600,000 b/d Dangote refinery ramps up, and Kazakhstan is under pressure to compensate for exceeding its Opec+ output target and could limit deliveries of CPC Blend. While imports were high in October, overall French crude receipts in the first 11 months of last year were 42.9mn t, lower by 2.4pc on the year, the result of planned and unplanned refinery downtime. By Adam Porter French crude imports mn bl Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

US oil majors jump on AI data centre bandwagon


27/01/25
27/01/25

US oil majors jump on AI data centre bandwagon

New York, 27 January (Argus) — As the race picks up to meet the massive energy needs of data centres behind the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution, ExxonMobil and Chevron are looking to grab a slice of the action. The US oil majors are making tentative inroads into the electricity business with early plans to build natural gas-fired power plants twinned with carbon capture technology to trap the emissions produced. Electricity demand in the US is soaring as technology giants scramble to power data centres. While wind and solar have a role to play, small nuclear reactors have been touted as one solution to meet the expected huge ramp-up in demand, but they are at least a decade away. That leaves natural gas to fill the gap and opens the door to companies such as ExxonMobil and Chevron, which have prior experience of developing power projects to run their own operations. "What we know from Big Tech is that they all have carefully crafted sustainability roadmaps," bank Raymond James' investment strategy analyst, Pavel Molchanov, says. "That means they need to balance this insatiable need for electricity with lower emissions. And carbon capture can be a very elegant solution to do exactly that." The majors see themselves as having an inbuilt advantage in being able to get large-scale infrastructure projects off the ground in a timely fashion. Any power plants they end up building could be located next to data centres, without having to rely on an already overburdened grid. "It's project management, it's supply chain development and sort of having a vertically integrated approach," Molchanov says. "These companies absolutely have that skill set." Unlike their European peers, ExxonMobil and Chevron have mostly shied away from renewable power on the grounds that the returns are too low and they have little expertise in this field. Instead, their low-carbon goals have focused on technologies such as carbon capture and storage (CCS), which play to core strengths. Adding such a component to gas-fired plants gives them an opportunity to showcase this preferred strategy. That was a point hammered home by ExxonMobil chief executive Darren Woods at last month's strategy update, when he maintained that the company still has little interest in getting into the power business as such. "We don't bring a lot of value creation to the power generation step, in and of itself," Woods said. "It's the ability to provide decarbonised natural gas to that power system, and the ability to capture the CO2 and then to transport it and sequester it, where we bring the value." Generation X factor Initial engineering and design work is already under way on such a project, ExxonMobil chief financial officer Kathy Mikells said. "The customer feedback has been incredibly encouraging," she added. ExxonMobil plans to trap more than 90pc of the CO2 from the plant's operations, and will tap its vast network of CO2 pipelines and sequestration sites — acquired as part of the $4.9bn acquisition of Denbury in 2023 — to transport and permanently store the emissions underground. Chevron chief executive Mike Wirth said recently that his company has been "deeply engaged" in conversations with the various hyperscalers involved in the buildout of data centres and in developing new AI tools. "America is blessed with an abundance of natural gas, and I think you're going to see a buildout of natural gas fired power generation that will support these data centres," he added. "We're certainly working on ideas like that." Surging demand from AI and data centres will play a part in supporting the investment case for the oil and gas industry for the remainder of the decade, according to the world's leading oil services contractor SLB. "AI is the X factor for our industry," SLB chief executive Oliver Le Peuch says. By Stephen Cunningham Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Trump tries again at faster energy permitting


27/01/25
27/01/25

Trump tries again at faster energy permitting

Washington, 27 January (Argus) — President Donald Trump is moving early in his second term to fast-track federal permitting by tapping into emergency powers he hopes will expedite approval of oil and gas infrastructure projects and electric transmission lines. Trump spent his first term promising a "massive" permitting overhaul that never materialised, after he was unable to achieve comprehensive updates through regulatory changes or a legislative deal in Congress. But in an executive order he signed on his first day in office that declares a "national energy emergency", he directed his administration to use emergency powers usually used to respond to issues such as natural disasters or short-term fuel shortages, to make it easier to build oil and gas pipelines, refineries and power plants. Trump's order argues that swift government action is needed because former president Joe Biden's policies have created an "emergency" under which energy supplies have become "precariously inadequate and intermittent" and the electric grid is "increasingly unreliable". It directs government agencies to use emergency powers to expedite issuance of water permits under the Clean Water Act and fast-track project reviews under the Endangered Species Act. It also asks regulators to "use all lawful emergency" powers to support the supply, refining and transportation of energy in the US west coast, northeast US and Alaska. But the White House will not offer expedited permitting for wind farms, which Trump detests and says should no longer be built. His administration has issued orders to stop leasing federal lands for wind farms, prompting an outcry from offshore wind group Turn Forward, whose executive director Hillary Bright sees a disconnect between declaring an energy emergency while impeding the buildout of wind power capacity, which is on track to grow by 60pc by 2028. Trump also rescinded a 1977 executive order supporting binding government-wide regulations for issuing environmental reviews of projects under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). This provides a chance to overhaul processes under NEPA, a decades-old law that often requires time-consuming reviews of projects that can take years to prepare and are regularly challenged in court. Where's the emergency? But tapping emergency powers to expedite permitting and overhaul NEPA processes could face substantial risks in court. Energy projects approved using novel processes would almost certainly face a barrage of lawsuits from environmentalists, who see no legal justification to jettison standard permitting rules that have been in place for decades. "There is no energy emergency. There is a climate emergency," environmental group NRDC's president, Manish Bapna, says. Republicans in Congress are considering ways to expedite permitting using a filibuster-proof manouevre called ‘budget reconciliation', which they also intend to use to cut taxes, expand fossil fuel leasing and push through other parts of Trump's agenda. Arkansas Republican representative,and chairman of the House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee, Bruce Westerman says "certain parts of permitting" could qualify for that bill, so long as they affect the federal budget. Industry officials are urging lawmakers to create durable energy policy. But Trump's efforts to roll back wind, solar and other clean energy projects — one executive order pauses disbursement of all funds enacted under Biden's signature climate laws — could threaten the bipartisan support required to pass comprehensive permitting changes. Democrats last year were willing to support permitting changes to help pipelines, in exchange for fast-tracking the electric grid buildout needed to deploy vast amounts of renewable energy. Blocking clean energy projects would remove an incentive for compromise. By Chris Knight Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Port of Nola reopens after winter storm


24/01/25
24/01/25

Port of Nola reopens after winter storm

Houston, 24 January (Argus) — The port of New Orleans reopened today after a prolonged shut-down propelled by a heavy winter storm that swept through the US Gulf earlier this week. Nola and Ports America reopened today to begin working on the backlog of movement caused by the storm. The port had been officially closed since 19 January in anticipation of the wintry temperatures, heavy precipitation and winds. Several inches of snow fell across New Orleans beginning Tuesday morning, according to the National Weather Service, with freezing conditions lasting through Thursday. Both ship and barge loadings and unloadings were significantly delayed across terminals. Several shipping and barge companies announced force majeures before the storm but are expected to reopen within the next couple of days, subject to safety conditions. By Meghan Yoyotte Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Generic Hero Banner

Business intelligence reports

Get concise, trustworthy and unbiased analysis of the latest trends and developments in oil and energy markets. These reports are specially created for decision makers who don’t have time to track markets day-by-day, minute-by-minute.

Learn more