This view shows the crude oil tanker Blasa from Panama on Lake Maracaibo in Maracaibo, Venezuela. (AFP)
The United States has taken further steps to ease restrictions surrounding Venezuela's oil industry, broadening efforts to allow U.S. companies to operate in the country after state controls were lifted on the sector.
The U.S. Treasury Department issued a license allowing some transactions involving Venezuela's government, as well as state oil firm PDVSA, to provide goods, tech and software "for the exploration, development, or production of oil or gas" in the country.
Another license issued authorizes certain transactions necessary for port and airport operations, while a third document allows certain activities involving Venezuelan-origin oil.
President Donald Trump had pressured Caracas to open up its oil fields to US investors after overthrowing his socialist arch-foe Nicolas Maduro in a deadly US bombing raid on Caracas on January 3.
The U.S. leader backed Maduro's deputy Delcy Rodriguez to take over, on the provision that she give Washington access to the world's largest proven oil reserves.
The Treasury's moves come as U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright plans to travel to Venezuela for oil talks at an unspecified date, according to a U.S. media report.
Sanctioned by Washington since 2019, Venezuela sits on about a fifth of the world's oil reserves and was once a major crude supplier to the United States.
