For decades, Venezuela’s oil sector has existed largely outside the investable universe for US companies.
Risks abounded: first, compulsory nationalizations; then, sanctions made participation—physically as well as financially—illegal. But with President Nicolás Maduro’s arrest, the situation changed. While barriers to investment still exist, recent changes from the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) may create new opportunities.
Beginning in late January and accelerating in February 2026, OFAC issued general licenses (GLs) that materially expand opportunities in and around Venezuelan oil. Together, these licenses represent important efforts to open discrete pathways into a market that has effectively been closed for years, while keeping tight controls on payments, counterparties and dispute resolution protections meant to guard against the past’s painful lessons.
This is not yet, and likely will never be, a full reopening, nor a blanket lifting of sanctions. It is a deliberate, staged re‑entry. Understanding where the opportunities are and where the legal and political tripwires remain is essential for anyone allocating capital or setting strategy in the region.
A Deliberate Shift in Policy
OFAC laid the foundation for this change on January 29 with General License No. 46 (GL 46) and has expanded it with additional GLs and FAQs that reflect the US’ broader policy intent to “selectively roll back sanctions to enable the transport and sale of Venezuelan crude oil products to global markets,” which President Donald Trump announced on January 7.
The licenses are narrow; highly conditional; structured to protect US companies that were previously affected by nationalized foreign assets and payment risk; and maintain US oversight over Venezuelan oil while restoring that oil to lawful global trade. For investors, that combination of access and constraint is precisely what makes the moment notable.
GL 46A: Permitting Sale and Transport to Benefit the US
At the center of the shift is General License 46A (GL 46A), focusing on the sale and transport of oil. It allows “established US entities” to engage in transactions “ordinarily incident and necessary” to standard operations involving Venezuelan oil, including refining. An “established US entity” is “any entity organized under the laws of the United States or any jurisdiction within the United States on or before January 29, 2025.”
