U.S. imposes sanctions on Venezuelan state oil firm

The US has moved to cut off the flow of foreign currency to President Nicolás Maduro’s government in Venezuela, imposing sanctions on the state-owned oil company PDVSA that will constrain its US refining subsidiary Citgo.

The US Treasury said that all of PDVSA’s assets subject to its jurisdiction were blocked, and US individuals and companies were “generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them”.

The sanctions will force PDVSA to find other markets for its oil or different routes into the US using intermediaries. They will also force US refining companies that have been customers for Venezuelan crude, including Valero Energy, to find other sources for the heavy oil they have been buying from PDVSA.