According to a source cited by Sputnik, the estimated amount of Venezuelan oil imported to the US by Chevron, Valero, and Phillips 66 will average about 100,000 barrels per day this month February due to the ease of some sanctions in November by Biden administration.

"Production has increased at Petropiar and production restarted recently at Petroboscan, so together that adds up to more than 100,000 volume to the US Gulf coast," the source stated, adding that the more restrictions are lifted, the more the Venezuelan oil will be imported. 

Chevron currently holds shares with Venezuela’s PDVSA at the heavy oil field Petrobiar and Petroboscan in western Venezuela. Back in 2019, former President Donald Trump added PDVSA, the country’s state oil company, to OFAC's blacklist in a bid to topple democratically-elected Maduro by straining Caracas' cash flow.

The flow is the outcome of the US Treasury Department's decision to issue a new license for Chevron to pump and extract oil in Venezuela for the duration of six months through its joint partner PDVSA, which came after the Venezuelan government and the local opposition resumed talks and agreed to discuss the humanitarian crisis. 

US officials still stressed that sanctions enforced by the US are still in effect and the ease of restrictions is not to be understood as a permissive environment on sanctions.

Iran, Venezuela withstand US sanctions through oil

Sources stated in November that the US does not intend to offer Venezuela any sanction relief, though the country making a shift in its policy toward the private sector might allow it to recover the debt owed by PDVSA, which seems like a step in a direction President Nicolas Maduro is willing to take.

PDVSA stopped paying creditors in 2017 after the US imposed harsh sanctions on it as part of its sanction regime on Venezuela and its people. Meanwhile, Washington is concerned about the dependence Venezuelan refineries developed on Iranian heavy crude, especially El Palito. Iran has in the past six months exported 6.8 million barrels of its heavy crude to Venezuela's refineries.

Iranian Oil Minister Jawad Owji announced last October that the Islamic Republic launched its first overseas Iranian-built refinery in Venezuela, El Palito, which has a capacity of refining 100,000 barrels of Venezuelan crude per day.

Iran and Venezuela have managed to withstand economic pressure from the United States and have closely cooperated to offset the impact of illegal sanctions, particularly those targeting their energy sectors.