US Keeps Strict Oil Ban on Chevron’s Venezuela Operations (1)

The Biden administration kept in place strict constraints on Chevron Corp.’s operations in Venezuela, thwarting the US driller’s push to ramp up production in the country amid global oil shortages.

The Treasury Department extended a license that allows Chevron and a handful of US oil-service providers to keep a limited presence in the OPEC-member country but not make any new investments nor export Venezuelan crude. It expires Dec. 1, 2022.

The decision effectively maintains Trump-era sanctions on Venezuela’s oil sector, despite signs that Washington was moving toward lifting restrictions as it sought to ease energy-market shortages that have contributed ...