(Bloomberg) -- The White House is discussing a renewal of Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX).’s license to operate in Venezuela despite sanctions on the country, said President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow.
“It is under discussion,” Kudlow told reporters at the White House on Tuesday. “Chevron has done a great job. They have a long and illustrious tradition as you may know in Venezuela.”
Chevron is the only remaining U.S. oil major in Venezuela and wants to extend a waiver that is due to expire on July 27 to continue its joint venture with state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela SA.
The U.S. has refused to recognize Nicolas Maduro as the country’s president after an election last year. Financial sanctions have become its main tool for depriving the Venezuelan leader of cash and pressuring the military to turn against him. Oil purchases from Venezuela have become complicated since the U.S. expanded its sanctions regimen to include any business done with PDVSA, as the national oil company is known. Other companies, including Spain’s Repsol (MC:REP) SA and Italy’s Eni SpA, continue to do business with Venezuela.
Chevron only got about 42,000 barrels of oil a day from its Venezuelan affiliate in 2018, roughly 1% of the company’s global output, but the country is home to the world’s largest oil reserves and is a potential bounty for oil companies if Maduro were to leave office.
(Updates with waiver details from third paragraph.)