Venezuela could supply oil to West in Mid-2022 if sanctions removed
With the West trying all it can to replace Russian energy supplies, Venezuela says it is ready to exchange the removal of sanctions for delivering oil to the United States and Europe.
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An oil pumpjack painted with the colors of the Venezuelan flag is seen in Lagunillas, Venezuela (Reuters)
Venezuela could begin supplying oil to the United States and Europe in the middle of 2022, provided that the latter remove the sanctions they imposed on Caracas, Venezuelan National Assembly oil and energy committee chairman Angel Rodriguez told Sputnik.
"If the [unilateral] measures are suspended ... considering what we have already achieved at the moment, we could supply energy that the US and Europe need so much in the middle of the year," the Venezuelan official said.
He revealed that for Caracas and Washington to strike a deal, the latter should make Venezuela an ambiguous offer, Rodriguez said, explaining that the key factor disrupting the country's economic situation is the US itself.
The legislator hoped that a possible resumption of oil exports to the US and Europe would not affect Caracas' relations with Moscow.
The White House said Monday a US delegation met with Venezuelan government officials in Caracas over the weekend for talks that included a discussion of energy supplies, as Washington sought ways to reduce its reliance on Russian oil, whose imports, along with Russian liquified natural gas and coal, it has now banned.
Venezuela's opposition also stated that it met with a high-level US delegation, whose visit to Caracas coincided with Washington's efforts to isolate Russia over its special military operation in Ukraine.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whose regime the US severed ties within 2019, was one of the international figures to assure Russian President Vladimir Putin of his "strong support" in the aftermath of the operation.
On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the United States was making attempts to sign contracts on energy resources with Iran and Venezuela.
Putin stressed that Washington was ready to make peace with Caracas and Tehran, sign all agreements, and hold negotiations with the parties they had penalized for no reason in the past. "It was not necessary to introduce these illegitimate sanctions," he told a government meeting.
The ban on the import of Russian oil, the Russian president explained, had nothing to do with the surging prices. "They just hide behind these decisions in order to deceive once again their own population," Putin declared.
