A delegation from the United States is said to have traveled to Venezuela on Saturday and met with representatives of Nicolás Maduro's government.

This is reported by various media, citing people who are familiar with the matter.

Behind the meeting are apparently efforts by the American government to relax sanctions against Venezuela in order to reduce pressure on oil prices.

At the same time, Russia is to be distanced from its most important ally in South America.

Tjerk Bruhwiller

Correspondent for Latin America based in São Paulo.

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In 2017, the American government under President Donald Trump began tightening sanctions against Venezuela.

In addition to senior government officials, the sanctions also affect Venezuelan state-owned companies, above all the state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA).

Since then, Venezuelan oil has mainly flowed to China and Russia.

Venezuela is also supplied with light oil from Iran in order to dilute the heavy Venezuelan oil and make it marketable.

Meanwhile, PDVSA has used Russia and its financial system to conduct transactions bypassing American sanctions.

540,000 barrels per day from Russia

Easing sanctions would allow the United States to redirect Venezuelan oil exports back to Gulf of Mexico refineries that specialize in processing Venezuelan oil.

According to the American Energy Information Administration, the United States imported almost eight million barrels of oil per day in 2020, around 540,000 barrels came from Russia.

That's less than American refiners were importing from Venezuela before sanctions began.

Experts agree that if Washington wants to stop importing from Russia, it must consider Venezuela as a substitute.

If sanctions are lifted, US company Chevron, which remains in a joint venture with PDVSA, would be able to generate 150,000 barrels per day in a few weeks.

Various oil service companies also still present in Venezuela could reactivate closed wells.

In addition, around 23 million barrels stored in Venezuela would reach the market.

But even that would not even begin to replace global Russian oil exports.

Venezuela's oil industry has withered after years of mismanagement.

The country with the largest proven oil reserves in the world today produces less than 800,000 barrels a day.

For comparison: Russia produces almost eleven million barrels per day, of which seven million barrels are exported.

According to Francisco Monaldi, director of the Latin American energy program at the Baker Institute, Venezuela could not even increase its production to one million barrels per day in the short term.

According to Monaldi, to reach a significant level of production, Venezuela would need investments of twelve billion dollars a year for five years.

There is also another hurdle: Venezuela needs its oil to service its debts with Russia and especially China, where it has accumulated a debt of around $60 billion.

Washington wants to reopen canals

Still, Washington seems eager to reopen political and economic channels to Venezuela.

As of 2019, Washington no longer has an embassy in Caracas.

Since then, there have been hardly any direct discussions.

However, even before the war in Ukraine, there were increased contacts between mediators from the Biden government and Caracas.

It was about the release of imprisoned Americans in Venezuela, including several managers from Citgo, the American subsidiary of PDVSA.

Washington also wants a resumption of talks between the Venezuelan government and the opposition to explore ways to hold a free and fair presidential election two years from now.

As a result of the war in Ukraine, demands from both political camps have been raised over the past few days

However, there is also resistance, especially from Florida, home to a now sizable community of exiled Venezuelans who continue to call for a hard line against Maduro.

Republican Senator Marco Rubio accuses the Biden government of using Russia as an excuse to negotiate a long-awaited deal with the Maduro regime.

"Rather than produce more American oil, he wants to replace the oil we buy from one murderous dictator with oil from another murderous dictator," Rubio wrote on Twitter.