US imposes sanctions on PDVSA in effort to isolate Maduro regime

Oil & Gas Journal: The US government has imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s national oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) on Jan. 28 following a determination by US Treasury Sec. Steven Mnuchin, in consultation with US Sec. of State Mike Pompeo, that persons in PDVSA are plundering operations to smuggle drugs and otherwise increase their personal gain.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions and amended nine general licenses held by PDVSA in response to a second executive order by US President Donald Trump on Jan. 25 following one on Nov. 1, 2018, blocking property of certain persons believed contributing to Venezuela’s increasingly unstable political situation.

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