Chevron will be allowed to continue producing and exporting Venezuelan crude, or maybe it will not, depending on which senior US official is speaking.
Secretary of state Marco Rubio took to social media late Wednesday night to insist that Chevron's waiver from US sanctions will end as planned on 27 May, contradicting US presidential envoy Ric Grenell's statement a day earlier.
"The pro-Maduro Biden oil license in Venezuela will expire as scheduled next Tuesday May 27th," Rubio posted from his personal account on X. Rubio referred to an authorization, originally issued under former president Joe Biden in 2022, that allowed Chevron to import crude into the US produced in its joint venture with state-owned PdV.
Grenell had said on Wednesday that he expected an extension of the license after he helped secure the release of US Air Force veteran Joseph St Clair from a Venezuelan prison.
Chevron has until 27 May to wind down all business in Venezuela, and neither the company nor the US Treasury Department's sanctions enforcement arm, the Office of Foreign Assets Control, have disclosed if the license would be extended or modified.
Venezuela's national assembly president Jorge Rodriguez earlier this week had suggested that the US under President Donald Trump would seek to extend the original license to prevent China from taking over Chevron's space in its joint ventures with PdV.
Sources close to the issue in Venezuela had heard until late Wednesday that the extension was in the works.
"It's going to happen, Friday is what we are hearing", the source said, indicating multiple currents in the Trump administration.
But Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado lobbied against extending the waiver, saying Chevron's presence helps support the Maduro regime, an opposition source in Caracas said.
"The [US] wants their hostages, but they are not super eager to hand Maduro a win in return", the source, who has liaised with DC for the opposition said. "La señora complained."
