Spain’s Repsol to Seek US License to Export Venezuelan Oil
(Bloomberg) --
The Spanish oil company Repsol SA will seek a license to re-start exports of Venezuelan crude, a person with knowledge of the matter said.
The firm will make the request to US officials in the coming days, according to the person, who asked not to be identified because the matter isn’t public. Repsol stopped exporting Venezuelan oil following the US embargo last year.
US officials are meeting oil industry executives about Venezuela on Friday, with Repsol set to be part of the meeting. The Spanish company was one of a handful of non-US firms that secured licenses to export oil from the South American country in recent years.
Repsol would like to restore that trade, the person said. The company would be exporting crude that Venezuela has in storage.
Repsol declined to comment.
US forces captured Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s president, at the weekend and the Trump administration has since said that the US will control its oil exports indefinitely.
Repsol has upstream operations in the US, including a stake in a field in Alaska. Company officials meet regularly with the US administration to discuss its presence in Venezuela and renew permits to operate there.
In Venezuela, Repsol produces gas, which is used mostly locally, but also has owns a stake in a large oil field. For years, the Venezuelan government paid Repsol with oil barrels in compensation for an outstanding debt.
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