The United States has imposed sanctions on Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A., a state-owned oil firm, White House national security adviser John Bolton says.
“We have continued to expose the corruption of [Venezuelan President Nicolas] Maduro and his cronies and today’s action ensures they can no longer loot the assets of the Venezuelan people,” Bolton told reporters at a briefing on Monday.
The United States is far and away the larger purchaser of Venezuelan oil, although in absolute terms the volume has been sliding lower for a number of years.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin added that the sanctions are aimed at boosting Maduro’s rival, opposition leader Juan Guaido, whom the administration recognized last week as Venezuela’s legitimate leader.
“The United States is holding accountable those responsible for Venezuela’s tragic decline, and will continue to use the full suite of its diplomatic and economic tools to support Interim President Juan Guaido, the national assembly, and the Venezuelan people’s efforts to restore their democracy,” Mnuchin said.
The sanctions will include a freeze on any assets the firm may have in U.S. jurisdictions and bar Americans from doing business with it.
Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida publicly welcomed the decision, and praised the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump for taking action.
All property & interests of PdVSA are now blocked & U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them. <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/Venezuela?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#Venezuela</a>’s oil belongs to the Venezuelan people & the money for oil will now go to them through the legitimate government of <a href=”https://twitter.com/jguaido?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@jguaido</a>
—@marcorubio
The sanctions mean that refiners set up to process the heavy oil blend that PDVSA makes will have to find alternative suppliers, some of which may be from Canada or Mexico.