Chevron’s hope for expanding its operations in Venezuela hinge on election talks taking place between disputed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his opposition, Juan Guaido, according to anonymous Reuters sources close to the matter. Chevron signed over the summer a TSA with Venezuela’s state-run oil company PDVSA, and later asked the U.S. Treasury Department to ease sanctions on the country. The easing of sanctions on PDVSA would allow Chevron greater control over its projects there, and effectively boosting Venezuela’s crude oil production, which has been under sanction since January 2019. The United States, however, which recognizes Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s interim President and not Nicolas Maduro, doesn’t appear to have any intention of releasing Venezuela’s oil industry from sanctions—that is, unless Nicolas Maduro is willing to sit across from a table with Juan Guaido to discuss free elections. The United States—along with dozens of other countries—renounced the legitimacy of […]