On January 18, Venezuelan Vice-President Delcy Rodriguez met with the Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), Arsenio Dominguez, in London.
According to local media, during their meeting last week, Rodriguez reported that 39 ships owned by the state-owned Petroleum of Venezuela and 30 merchant vessels continue to be affected by U.S. sanctions. She also highlighted the impact of the economic blockade on Venezuela, stating that the country lost almost 4 billion barrels of oil production between 2015 and 2022, amounting to a decrease in income of about US$323 billion.
The United States imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s oil sector as part of broader measures targeting the Venezuelan government. These sanctions were implemented in an effort to put pressure on the Venezuelan President, Nicolás Maduro, and his administration. The sanctions aim to restrict Venezuela’s access to international markets and limit its ability to generate revenue from oil exports.
To remind, in early December, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued 4 general licenses suspending certain sanctions in relation to transactions involving oil, gas, and gold in Venezuela.
