XPost: sci.geo.petroleum, talk.politics.guns, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   XPost: sac.politics   
   From: zinn@reno.us   
      
   Back channel talks between Washington and Caracas have been occurring   
   since at least March   
      
   The Biden administration is reportedly gearing up to wind down sanctions   
   against Venezuela’s authoritarian regime, clearing the way for Chevron to   
   resume its oil operations and reopen U.S. and European markets.   
      
   People familiar with the proposal told The Wall Street Journal that any   
   sanctions relief wound hinge on talks between the government of Venezuelan   
   President Nicolás Maduro and the country’s opposition regarding free and   
   fair presidential elections in 2024. So far, such talks have failed to   
   materialize.   
      
   FILE: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro stands before a meeting at the   
   presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, on July 11, 2022. (AP   
   Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File / AP Newsroom)   
      
   Discussions of possible sanctions relief on Venezuela come as President   
   Biden faces mounting political pressure to address rising gas prices ahead   
   of the November midterms. It also comes as the Organization of the   
   Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC+) said it would be cutting oil   
   production by 2 million barrels a day, creating another headache for the   
   president.   
      
   Such a deal between the U.S. and Venezuela could potentially enrage   
   critics on all sides. Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido has asked   
   the U.S. government for details of Chevron’s expanded license request to   
   operate in the country.   
      
   US OIL INDUSTRY MOCKS BIDEN AFTER OPEC+ ANNOUNCES PRODUCTION CUTS   
      
   Guaido’s team has also expressed concern that an agreement between Chevron   
   and Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA underlying the license request   
   would violate Venezuelan law.   
      
   Chevon told FOX Business it continues "to conduct our businesses in   
   compliance with the current sanctions framework provided by the U.S.   
   Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) under General License 8."   
      
   The oil giant said it is a "constructive presence in Venezuela, where we   
   have dedicated investments and a large workforce who are dependent on our   
   presence."   
      
   "We remain committed to the safety and wellbeing of our employees and   
   their families, the integrity of our joint venture assets, and the   
   company's social and humanitarian programs during these challenging   
   times," Chevron said.   
      
   FILE: The logo of Dow Jones Industrial Average stock market index listed   
   company Chevron (CVX) is seen in Los Angeles, California, United States,   
   April 12, 2016.  (REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson/FILE / Reuters Photos)   
      
   The Biden administration has held talks with Venezuela in some capacity   
   since March. But a rapprochement gained momentum on Saturday when   
   Venezuela freed seven imprisoned Americans in exchange for the U.S.   
   releasing two nephews of Maduro's wife who had been jailed for years on   
   narcotics convictions.   
      
   Many Maduro supporters remain distrustful of the U.S. "Empire," however,   
   recalling the Trump administration's decision to impose sanctions on a   
   Venezuelan governor who brokered the release of another American, Joshua   
   Holt, in 2018.   
      
   WHITE HOUSES PUSHES CLEAN ENERGY, SAYS US MUST REDUCE RELIANCE ON FOREIGN   
   OIL IN WAKE OF OPEC+ DECISION   
      
   Biden has had a hostile relationship with American oil producers since   
   becoming president. On his first day in office, he issued an executive   
   order canceling the Keystone XL pipeline which would have transported more   
   than 800,000 barrels of oil from Canada to the Texas coast per day. Biden   
   has also repeatedly blamed oil companies for this year’s surge in energy   
   prices, which has been partially driven by Russian President Vladimir   
   Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.   
      
   Still, it remains to be seen whether a pivot to Venezuela would make   
   alleviate growing fuel costs in the U.S. Once a major oil producer,   
   pumping more than 3.2 million barrels a day in the 1990s, Venezuela’s   
   dilapidated oil industry has been plagued by years of corruption,   
   mismanagement, and environmental degradation, according to reports by   
   oilprice.com.   
      
   "The Democrats right now have a harder story to sell on this because sure   
   there's inflation. Sure, there are supply chain issues. But when   
   specifically it comes to oil, they have been so publicly, anti-American   
   oil, that when you start to hear that there's not enough of it, those two   
   dots aren't very hard to connect," Ryan Sitton, a former Texas oil   
   regulator, told FOX Business. "So, Biden is clearly trying to do anything   
   he can do to hold oil prices down, and thereby help keep gasoline prices   
   low, such that it doesn't hit them that hard in the midterms."   
      
   Sitton said encouraging Venezuela to produce more oil would run counter to   
   the Biden administration’s purported environmental agenda noting that it   
   would promote the rest of the world staying on the energy source longer.   
      
   "I think what they're doing is encouraging people to have access to   
   affordable sources of oil. Of course, it doesn't help the US oil business,   
   which should be our primary focus. And at the same time, it clearly   
   doesn't help their agenda, which is to get off of hydrocarbons in   
   general," Sitton said.   
      
   The World Bank's 2022 Global Gas Flaring Tracker Report comparing flaring   
   intensity indicated a barrel of oil produced in the United States was   
   significantly cleaner than what was produced in Venezuela, with only Syria   
   and Yemen ranking worse.   
      
   A person walks past a gas station of state oil company PDVSA, in Caracas,   
   Venezuela March 16, 2022. (REUTERS/Gaby Oraa / Reuters Photos)   
      
   "No question the world is hungry for oil and natural gas but the President   
   is missing the moment to expand production and refining here in the U.S.   
   by constantly looking outward to solve the world’s energy crisis," Jason   
   Modglin, president of the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers, told FOX   
   Business.   
      
   FOX Business has reached out to the White House for comment but did not   
   hear back before publication.   
      
   https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/biden-admin-prepping-scale-down-   
   venezuela-sanctions-allow-pumping-oil-world-dirtiest   
      
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