Wirelines
US relaxes sanctions to ease path for energy companies to work in Venezuela
The US has eased sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry, issuing two general licenses to allow global energy companies to operate oil and gas projects in the country.
The first license, issued by the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), allows five operators (Chevron, BP, Eni, Shell and Repsol) to work in the country. Those companies have offices in Venezuela and are among the main partners of PDVSA, the Venezuelan national oil company.
The other license allows contractors to enter contracts with PDVSA for investments in Venezuelan oil and gas operations. Those contracts are contingent on separate permits from OFAC.
The licenses do not allow transactions with companies in Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba or China, or with entities owned or controlled by joint ventures in those countries.
The US had held sanctions on Venezuela since 2019. The current easing of sanctions follows earlier sanction rollbacks from OFAC in January and February after the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife by US forces on 3 January.
Any oil contract with Venezuela must be governed by US laws, according to the licenses. Payments must be made on “commercially reasonable” terms and must be paid into an account in the United States established and with oversight by the US Departments of State and Treasury.
In a statement, the US State Department said that the licenses “invite American and other aligned companies to play a constructive role in supporting economic recovery and responsible investment.”
USDA Forest Service updates oil and gas leasing rule
The US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Forest Service finalized revisions to its regulation governing federal oil and gas resources on National Forest System lands. The revision modernizes and streamlines the process for managing energy development across millions of acres.
The final rule (36 CFR 228 Subpart E) updates and simplifies federal oil and gas leasing procedures, allowing the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to seamlessly coordinate when issuing permits. In a statement, the USDA said that, by establishing a single, clearly defined leasing decision point and reducing duplicative analysis, the rule “improves response times to industry requests, helps reduce long-standing backlogs, accelerates lease issuance and supports the timely processing of applications for permits to drill.”
Under federal law, the Forest Service manages the surface estate of National Forest System lands, while the BLM manages the subsurface mineral estate. The two agencies work together to develop permitting conditions under their respective authorities.
Currently, 5,154 federal oil and gas leases cover approximately 3.8 million acres, or approximately 2% of National Forest System lands. Of these, roughly 2,850 leases spanning 1.8 million acres across 39 national forests and grasslands contain producing federal oil or gas wells.
The move aligns with executive orders issued by US President Donald Trump aimed at accelerating domestic energy production and building energy security.
Click here to read the USDA’s updated rule on federal oil and gas leasing.
Trump administration sues California cities over oil and gas HSE regulations
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit against two California cities — Morgan Hill and Petaluma — over a state senate bill that introduced new regulations for oil and gas developments. California Senate Bill 1137, which went into effect on 1 January 2025, established 3,200-ft health protection zones (HPZs) around sensitive areas such as homes, school and hospitals.
Under the law, all oil and gas facilities within an HPZ must comply with various health, safety and environmental requirements. Among these, they must limit sound levels between 8 p.m. and 7 a.m. to ambient noise levels at the property line and minimize light generation during these hours. They must also implement measures to prevent dust migration beyond property boundaries, including limiting vehicle speeds on unpaved roads to 15 mph or less and covering stored materials.
Operators within HPZs must also develop leak detection and response plans for their facilities, and they must submit annual reports to the state on the operational status of emissions detection systems, baseline and post-drilling groundwater testing and any suspensions of operations due to leaks.
In a statement announcing the lawsuit, the DOJ said the law “unreasonably burdens domestic energy development so that energy will once again be reliable and affordable for all Americans.”
ConocoPhillips, Chevron CEOs to lead petroleum council
ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan Lance and Chevron CEO Mike Wirth were named as the new Chair and Vice Chair, respectively, of the National Petroleum Council, an American advisory committee that provides guidance and recommendations to the US Secretary of Energy on oil and natural gas interests.
Mr Lance has served as CEO at ConocoPhillips since 2012. He has four decades of oil and natural gas industry experience in senior management and technical positions with ConocoPhillips, predecessor Phillips Petroleum and various divisions of ARCO.
Mr Wirth has been Chevron CEO since 2019. He previously served as the company’s Executive Vice President of Midstream and Development from 2016 to 2018.
