OFAC Widens Venezuela General Licences for Oil, Mining, Telecoms

Venezuela · SANCTIONS

Eight amended licences ease one contract clause for oil, gas, minerals and telecoms, and little else.

The US Treasury amended eight Venezuela general licence documents on Thursday, August 27, covering oil, gas, minerals and telecommunications. The change removes a single contract clause and leaves the rest of the sanctions programme untouched.

What changed on August 27

The Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, is the sanctions arm of the US Treasury. It amended eight Venezuela-related authorisations on Thursday, August 27, and posted them the same morning.

Each amended text is a general licence, or GL, a standing permission to do something otherwise banned. The eight are numbered 46D, 47B, 48C, 50C, 51C, 52B, 54B and 61A.

One clause disappeared from all eight documents. Contracts with the Venezuelan state no longer have to be governed by the law of a US jurisdiction.

None of the eight texts carries an expiry date. OFAC can still amend, narrow or revoke any of them at any time.

Why the governing-law clause was dropped

OFAC explained the step in a new guidance note, Frequently Asked Question 1267, released the same day. It states that parties are no longer required to include a choice of law provision.

The note also gives a reason. OFAC points to investment-related reforms made by the Venezuelan government since January 2026.

Venezuela’s National Assembly approved a partial reform of the Organic Hydrocarbons Law on January 29, 2026. That text opened exploration and production to private and foreign firms and recognised international arbitration.

OFAC says Washington continues to support US businesses that reinvest in Venezuela. It frames the aim as strengthening American national security in the Western Hemisphere.

Oil, gas and petrochemicals

General Licence 46D covers Venezuelan-origin oil and petrochemical products brought into the United States by an established US entity. That term means a company organised in the United States on or before January 29, 2025.

General Licence 47B allows the sale and shipment of US-origin diluents to Venezuela. General Licence 48C covers goods, technology, software and services for oil, gas, petrochemical and electricity work in the country.

General Licence 50C names six oil companies and their subsidiaries in its annex. They are BP, Chevron, Eni, Établissements Maurel & Prom, Repsol and Shell.

General Licence 52B widens dealings with Petróleos de Venezuela, the state oil company known as PDVSA. It still bars anyone else on the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons list, the SDN list.

Minerals, gold and the mining limit

General Licence 51C covers the export, sale, purchase and transport of Venezuelan-origin minerals, including gold. Processing and refining are covered, but not in Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba or China.

Mining inside Venezuela is a separate question. Exploration, extraction, processing, refining or production of minerals in the country is not authorised by that licence.

General Licence 54B is the supply-side twin. It lets US persons provide goods, technology, software and services for minerals and gold operations inside Venezuela.

Both texts name the state miner CVG Compañía General de Minería de Venezuela, known as Minerven. Neither permits new joint ventures in Venezuela to mine, process or refine minerals.

Telecommunications and General Licence 61A

General Licence 61A replaced General Licence 61, which OFAC had issued only six days earlier. The substance of that telecoms authorisation is unchanged apart from the dropped governing-law clause.

It covers goods, technology, software and services for installing, maintaining, repairing, upgrading and operating telecommunications in Venezuela. The named counterparties are the regulator CONATEL and the state carrier CANTV.

CONATEL is the Comisión Nacional de Telecomunicaciones, and CANTV is the Compañía Anónima Nacional Teléfonos de Venezuela. The licence reaches submarine cables, interconnection and roaming deals, capacity leases and satellite links.

One limit is explicit in the text. This Venezuela general licence does not authorise new joint ventures or entities to develop or invest in the sector.

The conditions that did not go away

Dispute resolution is still fenced in. Contracts with the Venezuelan state must specify that proceedings occur in the United States, the United Kingdom, France or Singapore.

Payments are routed. Money owed to a blocked person, other than local taxes, permits or fees, must go into the Foreign Government Deposit Funds.

That account was created by Executive Order 14373 of January 9, 2026. Treasury may also direct such payments into another account of its choosing.

Reporting is compulsory. Firms must file transaction details to the State Department and, depending on the licence, to the Energy or Interior departments.

First reports fall due ten days after the first transaction. Filings repeat every 90 days, or every 30 days for minerals under General Licence 51C.

What is still off limits

None of this lifts the Venezuela sanctions programme, which sits in 31 CFR part 591. Blocked property stays blocked, and none of these authorisations unblocks it.

Most of the texts exclude persons in Russia, Iran, North Korea and Cuba, and several exclude Chinese-linked parties. General Licence 47B, on diluents, leaves Russia out of that list.

Payments in gold, debt swaps and digital tokens issued for the Venezuelan government, including the petro, are barred. Any transaction involving a blocked vessel is also excluded.

General Licence 52B keeps the bond and equity restrictions. It does not cover settlement agreements or the enforcement of judgments and arbitral awards against blocked property.

Reactions, Congress and the fine print

Compliance lawyers have urged caution about the wider licensing push. Olivia Singelmann and colleagues at Foley & Lardner wrote on August 18 that such licences can be narrowed or revoked quickly.

The same note warned against reading the framework as permanent normalisation of relations. Baker McKenzie lawyers had set out the June round of amendments in similar practical terms on June 18.

Congress is watching how any easing is handled. A Congressional Research Service report dated August 13 sets out the state of play.

That report, by Clare Ribando Seelke, notes House bill 8595, which passed the chamber. It would bar its own funds from facilitating sanctions relief without certified free and fair elections.

Anyone relying on a Venezuela general licence should read the OFAC text itself, not a summary. This article is reporting rather than legal advice, and firms need their own counsel.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources

• ofac.treasury.gov
• ofac.treasury.gov
• ofac.treasury.gov
• ofac.treasury.gov
• ofac.treasury.gov
• ofac.treasury.gov
• ofac.treasury.gov
• ofac.treasury.gov
• eldiario.com
• www.foley.com
• sanctionsnews.bakermckenzie.com
• www.congress.gov
• www.infobae.com
• www.riotimesonline.com

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