Venezuela and US Officials Met in June: El Pais Sources

The US and Venezuela held a meeting in Qatar three weeks ago according to El Pais reports in a bid to ease tensions between the nations.

• The president of the Venezuelan National Assembly and Nicolás Maduro’s right-hand man, Jorge Rodríguez, met in Doha, the capital of Qatar, with Juan González, advisor to Joe Biden, according to El Pais sources.
• Rodríguez and González, advisor for the Western Hemisphere at the US National Security Council, met to establish a direct channel of communication, according to the same sources.
• There were no mentions of any further easing of sanctions on Venezuelan oil exports. A license by the Biden Administration for Chevron to import Venezuelan crude in exchange for reclaiming owed debt from the nation was seen as a critical step in moving towards eased sanctions but little progress has been made since.
• Venezuela’s PDVSA exported 13% more oil on the year during the January-May period according to a Reuters source – helped in part by Chevron deal and growing demand from China. Official Chinese statistics show Venezuelan imports at zero as they are typically imported via Malaysia and rebranded.
• PDVSA is targeting production of 1mn bpd by August and 900,000 bpd for this month – up from 838,000 bpd in May.
• Rising exports from sanctioned nations like Venezuela and Iran have caught oil markets off guard this year, weighing on prices despite market expectations of greater levels of tightness as voluntary OPEC+ cuts take hold.