Biden resumes oil purchases from Maduro regime

The Biden Administration announced that it will allow Chevron to resume oil drilling in Venezuela. This agreement comes after Nicolás Maduro’s regime and the opposition agreed to negotiate in Mexico City. They also agreed to implement a $3 billion humanitarian aid plan.

In the Mexican capital, both sides, the government and the opposition, reached an agreement on Saturday. Last October, the opposition agreed to come as a "Unitary Platform" and not as an "interim government.” On the other hand, the "Unitary Platform" has relegated its political and institutional objectives, and focuses on co-governing with the Maduro regime, focusing on the joint solution to the humanitarian crisis.

$3 billion plan

The institutional situation in Venezuela is discussed in a statement issued by the "Plataforma Unitaria" (Unitary Platform). It points out that the country is experiencing "the consequences of the absence of human rights guarantees,” and that it is necessary "to build conditions and institutions that guarantee - among other things - free and observable elections.” The priority is "to find once and for all tangible and real agreements, which will translate into solutions to the humanitarian crisis.” This is the context for approving to launch a $3 billion plan to tackle the serious poverty situation throughout the country.

Chevron and PdVSA

Part of the agreement includes granting Chevron the license to extract oil from Venezuelan soil. This concession also comes from Joe Biden's administration, which lifted sanctions on the regime that prohibited Venezuela's state-owned oil company, PdVSA, from profiting from Chevron's crude oil sales.

Sen. Robert Menendez (D, N.J.), chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, stated:

According to The Wall Street Journal, socialist management of Venezuelan oil resources has meant that the country which used to produce "more than 3 million barrels a day in the 1990s,” can now only extract around 700,000 barrels.

"Begging dictators for oil"

The Biden Administration's decision has been criticized by Republican Representative Claudia Tenney, who believes that "the Biden administration should allow U.S. energy producers to unleash domestic production instead of begging dictators for oil."