reporter Zhao Enting
On December 2, 527 EU html 27 member states reached an agreement after several days of fierce consultations and decided to impose a price limit on Russian oil - US$60 per barrel, in order to reduce Russian oil export revenue. On the same day, G7 (G7) and Australia also decided to limit oil prices on Russia, with the same standards as those of the EU. At the same time, American energy giant Chevron signed an agreement with the Ministry of Petroleum of Venezuela and the National Petroleum Corporation of Venezuela to increase the oil production of the two parties' joint ventures in Venezuela and expand related businesses.
Venezuela State Oil Company (expander)
Western oil price limit for Russia and Chevron return to Venezuela . The coincidence in time is accidental, but the reason behind it is inevitable.
For the past 20 years, Venezuela has been one of the representatives of anti-American forces in Latin America. The late former President of Venezuela Chavez is one of the iconic figures in the left-wing wave in Latin America. Its "successor" Maduro has also carried this banner. Venezuela's relationship with the United States has always been inconsistent.
Especially after the 2018 Venezuelan Presidential election and Maduro's successful re-election, Venezuelan relations have further deteriorated. After Maduro started his new term in January 2019, the opposition figures of the Venezuelan opposition and then chairman of the parliament, Guaido, proclaimed himself "interim president", trying to compete with the Maduro government, and received support from some Western countries such as the United States. The U.S. and Venezuelan cut off diplomatic relations that month.
However, the Maduro government controlled the domestic situation in a short period of time, while the VI opposition was gradually declining. At the same time, in order to combat the Maduro government, the United States has adopted multiple measures such as diplomatic isolation, military threats, economic sanctions, and oil export blockade against Venezuela. The oil industry, as the pillar of Venezuela, has suffered a heavy blow. This important member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries ( OPEC ) and the country with the largest crude oil reserves in the world, its daily crude oil production dropped from about 3 million barrels at its peak to about 700,000 barrels at its current level, and the oil extraction and refining facilities are outdated due to lack of funds for maintenance and upgrading.
The United States prohibits individuals or entities from importing Venezuela's oil, and prohibits American oil companies, including Chevron, from operating in Venezuela. Meanwhile, more than $20 billion in Venezuela was frozen.
Venezuelan President Maduro (expander)
At the end of 2020, Venezuela held parliamentary elections. The party led by Maduro regained control of the parliament, greatly weakening the power of the Venezuelan opposition, especially Guaido. Subsequently, the EU announced early last year that it would no longer recognize Guaido as the "interim president" of the Venezuelans. Later, the Maduro government also had a dialogue with the Venezuelan opposition.
The turning point in U.S.-United States-United States-United States-Ukraine conflict broke out. Affected by the escalation of the situation in Ukraine, international energy prices have risen sharply, exacerbating the inflation situation in Western countries, including the United States. In order to alleviate domestic inflation pressure, the Biden administration in the United States seeks to curb oil prices by increasing production, and first turned its attention to Middle East .
In the Middle East, Saudi Arabia and Iran are two major oil producers. The former has huge influence in OPEC. The organization's production plans are mostly driven by Saudi Arabia and cooperate with Russia, a non-OPEC oil-producing country; the latter cannot fully release crude oil production capacity due to US sanctions. Although the Biden administration started Vienna negotiations on implementing the Iran nuclear agreement after taking office, the negotiations have always been "stopped" for the past year and a half. The United States and Iran have recently released some negative signals, which means that Iran's crude oil production capacity will still be suppressed.
In March this year, when Biden sought to talk to Saudi and UAE leaders to discuss crude oil production increases, the leaders of the two countries refused to answer the phone. This not only exposed the growing gap between the United States and traditional Middle East allies - the US-Saudi relations were unhappy due to the murder of Saudi journalist Khashoggi, but also reflected that the diplomacy of regional allies was more independent and diversified as the United States became increasingly selfish. Even though Biden personally visited Saudi Arabia in July this year, he failed to convince Saudi Arabia to increase crude oil production.In turn, the top leaders of Saudi Arabia and Russia are in close communication on energy policies.
US President Biden and Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed (expander)
When the oil embargo was imposed on Russia, the Saudi-led OPEC increased its production ineffectively, and the nuclear negotiations with Iran were at a deadlock, the United States thought of Venezuela. In March this year, a senior US delegation visited Venezuela and met with Maduro, where both sides discussed bilateral relations and energy issues. It is said that the US hopes to ease energy sanctions on Venezuela in exchange for direct export of oil to the US.
After that, the US delegation visited Venezuela again in June. This time, the two sides also talked about the release of detained citizens, and finally exchanged several detained citizens in October. Meanwhile, the U.S. government intends to revoke its recognition of Guaido's "interim president" after the opening of the new Congress early next year.
On November 26, the dialogue between the Maduro government and the Venezuelan opposition made a breakthrough. The two sides agreed to establish an fund managed by the United Nations to provide support for Venezuela's social security projects. Some of the frozen funds - US$3 billion, will be injected into the fund. The U.S. Treasury Department immediately announced that it would issue a license to Chevron to allow it to resume crude oil extraction in Venezuela for a limited resumption.
Since the beginning of this year, in order to deal with high oil prices, the Biden administration has implemented a strategic oil reserve plan to release 180 million barrels. According to data released by the U.S. Energy Agency, U.S. strategic oil reserves have fallen below 400 million barrels, the lowest level in nearly 40 years. When Middle East allies no longer revolve around themselves and their inventory hits the lower limit, internal and external factors prompted the United States to ease relations with Venezuela in the energy field.
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