The United States has instructed oil trading houses and refiners around the world to further cut dealings with Venezuela or face sanctions themselves, even if the trades are not prohibited by published US sanctions, three sources familiar with the matter said.
The move comes as Washington’s efforts to oust President Nicolas Maduro in favor of opposition leader Juan Guaido have stalled, and is further evidence of how it is leaning on non-US firms to achieve its foreign policy goals.
The US imposed fresh sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry earlier this year but some companies have continued to supply the country with fuel from India, Russia and Europe.
Washington is particularly keen to end deliveries of gasoline and refined products used to dilute Venezuela’s heavy crude oil to make it suitable for export. Jet fuel and diesel would be exempt for humanitarian reasons, the sources said.
The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced a ban in early February on the use of its financial system in oil deals with Venezuela after April.
But as recently as this week, the US State department has called up foreign firms to say that the scope of the sanctions is wider.
The sources said that the State Department made clear that any kind of oil trade, whether it be direct, indirect or barter, would be considered a breach.
OFAC and the State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“This is how the United States operates these days. They have written rules and then they call you to explain that there are also unwritten rules that they want you to follow,” one of the sources said.

US orders foreign firms to further cut oil deals with Venezuela

An oil pump in Lagunillas, Ciudad Ojeda, in the state of Zulia, Venezuela. (Reuters)
Reuters, London
Friday 29 March 2019
Last Update: Wednesday, 20 May 2020 KSA 09:54 - GMT 06:54
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