Treasury Issues New Licenses for Venezuela Sanctions

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On July 23, 2025, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) published three general licenses related to the Venezuela Sanctions Regulations. The licenses are General License 41A, 5R, and 41B.

Details of New Licenses

General License No. 41A

GL 41A was issued on March 4, 2025. This license allowed people to wind down certain transactions connected to Chevron Corporation’s joint ventures in Venezuela. These actions had to be finished before April 3, 2025.

The license allowed only necessary actions related to closing out operations. This involved Chevron and its subsidiaries, along with partners like Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PdVSA) and companies owned more than 50 percent by PdVSA.

GL 41A did not allow:

  • Payment of any taxes or royalties to the Government of Venezuela.
  • Payment of any dividends, including in-kind dividends, to PdVSA or its owned companies.
  • Selling oil or oil products from the Chevron joint ventures to places outside the United States.
  • Any deal with a Venezuelan company owned or controlled by a Russian company.
  • Any activity otherwise banned by the Venezuela Sanctions Regulations, unless separately allowed.

GL 41A replaced General License No. 41.

General License No. 5R

GL 5R was issued on March 6, 2025. This license will allow, starting July 3, 2025, all transactions related to the Petróleos de Venezuela 2020 8.5 Percent Bond. This includes financing, handling, and other dealings that would otherwise be banned by Executive Orders 13835 and 13857, and the Venezuela Sanctions Regulations.

GL 5R does not permit activities otherwise disallowed by the sanctions rules in 31 CFR chapter V. It replaced General License No. 5Q.

General License No. 41B

GL 41B was issued on March 24, 2025, and replaced GL 41A. This license authorizes the wind down of certain transactions tied to Chevron’s Venezuela joint ventures until May 27, 2025.

Like GL 41A, it allows only actions needed to close out business with Chevron joint ventures, PdVSA, and PdVSA-owned firms.

GL 41B does not allow:

  • Payment of taxes or royalties to the Venezuelan government.
  • Payment of any dividends, including in-kind, to PdVSA or its companies.
  • Sale of oil or oil products from these joint ventures to countries other than the United States.
  • Deals with Venezuelan companies owned or controlled by Russian companies.
  • Any action banned by the Venezuela Sanctions Regulations, unless specifically allowed.

GL 41B also states:

  • People must still follow rules from other federal agencies, such as the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security.
  • The license does not allow Chevron joint ventures to start working in new oil fields in Venezuela.

All these licenses were made available on OFAC’s website when issued. The Acting Director of OFAC, Lisa M. Palluconi, signed each license.


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