Report: US Could Ease Venezuela Sanctions, Allow Chevron to Pump Oil
The Facts
According to a report by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the Biden administration is planning to relax some sanctions on Venezuela to allow Chevron and other US oil-service companies to resume operations there, increasing oil supply on the global market.
The US has offered sanctions relief in exchange for Venezuela's Pres. Nicolás Maduro's renewed talks with the country's opposition on the conditions needed to hold free and fair elections in 2024, sources allegedly familiar with the proposal told the WSJ.
The Spin
Narrative A
The Venezuelan oil embargo has failed, and not lifting it would continue a harmful policy, especially amid the global energy crisis. Despite bipartisan opposition to relaxing sanctions, the Biden administration will only harm both the American and the Venezuelan people by keeping this failed approach in place. This new plan may just be the strategy needed.
Narrative B
Since he took office, Biden has been at war with the US oil business, and this plan would only continue those hostilities. Working with domestic oil companies should be his focus, not opening up Venezuela, which might not even be able to overcome its oil industry’s dilapidated state and produce enough oil to alleviate the problem of high gas prices.
