Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA)

Rule Changes

Central to reform debate; infrastructure severely degraded

Hugo Chávez nationalized Venezuela's oil sector in 2007, expropriating assets from ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, and other foreign companies. Nineteen years later, less than a month after U.S. forces captured Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela's National Assembly passed and Acting President Delcy Rodríguez signed legislation reversing that policy—allowing private companies to independently operate oil fields, market crude, and settle disputes in international courts. The bill was submitted on January 15, debated on January 23, and signed into law on January 29—just 14 days from introduction to enactment. As Rodríguez signed the law, the U.S. Treasury Department issued General License 46, authorizing established U.S. energy companies to engage in Venezuelan oil activities but explicitly excluding entities from China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, or Cuba.

Updated Feb 5

Force in Play

Core revenue source for Maduro government; central node in the sanctions-evasion narrative

The U.S. Coast Guard is now chasing a third Venezuela-linked tanker in international waters near Venezuela—under a judicial seizure order. Two other tankers have already been stopped in the past 11 days, including one dramatic helicopter boarding that the administration amplified on social media.

Updated Dec 21, 2025

Force in Play

Core revenue source for Maduro government; shipping routes increasingly paralyzed.

Trump’s Venezuela “blockade” threat is no longer just rhetoric—it’s being scaffolded by fresh Treasury actions and a widening target universe. Since the blockade announcement, Washington has added new Venezuela-linked sanctions and separately hit Iran’s shadow-fleet network, expanding the pool of already-sanctioned vessels that could be swept into real-world stop-and-search enforcement if they touch Venezuela’s trade.

Updated Dec 20, 2025

Rule Changes

Issuer of the PDVSA 2020 bond; ultimate parent in the CITGO ownership chain under dispute.

CITGO has been the prize everyone can see, but almost nobody can touch. For years, a single U.S. sanctions lever has decided whether the PDVSA 2020 bond’s “CITGO shares” collateral is a real hammer—or just a threat on paper.

Updated Dec 20, 2025

Force in Play

Owner of the seized crude cargo and backbone of Venezuela’s sanctions‑strained economy.

A US Coast Guard team fast-roped from helicopters onto the supertanker Skipper off Venezuela’s coast. Within hours, President Donald Trump was bragging in Washington that the United States had just seized one of the world’s largest tankers and would likely keep the oil.

Updated Dec 11, 2025