Washington: The United States revised three Venezuela sanctions licences to name methanol explicitly among the petrochemical products covered by permissions for certain oil trade, supplies and preliminary investment negotiations.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued General Licences 46E, 48D and 49B, replacing earlier versions. A comparison shows methanol added under five tariff classifications in each licence’s chemical annex. The main permissions and restrictions otherwise remain substantially the same.
The revisions do not amount to a general lifting of sanctions on Venezuela. They announce no shipment or investment and give no estimate of how much methanol might be traded under the revised terms.
General Licence 46E permits an established US entity to undertake specified transactions involving Venezuelan oil or petrochemical products for import into the United States. Its terms cover activities such as transport, sale, storage and refining, subject to conditions.
The licence defines an established US entity as one organised under US law by January 29, 2025. It also requires reports when Venezuelan-origin oil is sold or supplied to countries other than the United States under its authority. Those reports must identify the parties, quantities, values, destination and payments to the Venezuelan government.
The second revision, General Licence 48D, covers certain goods, software, technology and services supplied from the United States or by a US person for oil, gas and petrochemical activity in Venezuela. It also covers defined work on the country’s electricity system.
That permission includes maintenance and repair of existing operations. It does not authorise the formation of new joint ventures in Venezuela or dealings related to exports of diluents to the country. Companies using it must report transactions to the US State and Energy departments under the licence’s terms.
General Licence 49B addresses an earlier stage of investment. It allows negotiations and contingent contracts for certain new oil, gas, petrochemical and electricity projects. Actual performance of those contracts still requires separate OFAC authorisation. The licence also permits preparatory work, including legal, technical, safety and environmental assessments.
All three documents say petrochemical products include fertiliser products and precursor chemicals. Their revised annexes list methanol alongside materials such as urea, ammonia, phosphates and sulphuric acid. The earlier annexes contained those other entries but did not list methanol by name.
The trade and supply licences require contracts with the Venezuelan government or state oil company to provide for dispute resolution in the United States, Britain, France or Singapore. Payments to blocked persons, apart from specified local taxes, permits or fees, must follow Treasury’s designated account arrangements.
The licences retain exclusions involving certain parties connected to Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba and China, as well as blocked vessels. The precise China-related wording differs between them. None of the revised documents names India, an Indian company or a particular methanol shipment.
Methanol is an industrial chemical used to make other chemical products. It can also serve as a fuel or fuel component. The US revisions concern the terms of sanctions permissions; they do not set prices or require companies to buy or sell the chemical.
(IANS)
