Venezuela Energy Week (VEW) 2027, billed as the country’s largest international energy investment summit, will bring the companies mobilizing under that framework to Caracas in February. There they will negotiate with PDVSA executives, officials and operators as Venezuela’s production recovery accelerates.

OFAC’s role in the country stems from sanctions the United States extended to PDVSA in January 2019, which barred U.S. persons from most dealings with the state oil company. Exceptions came through licenses granted to individual companies, most prominently Chevron. That changed after Venezuela’s January 2026 hydrocarbons reform, when OFAC began issuing general licenses covering different categories of activity.

OFAC’s first general licenses, issued in late January and early February, restarted Venezuela’s crude trade. They authorized established U.S. entities to engage in the lifting, exportation, sale and transportation of Venezuelan-origin oil, and allowed exports of U.S.-origin diluents for blending with the country’s heavy crude.

GL 48, issued on February 10, carried the opening into the country’s oilfields, authorizing the provision of goods, technology, software and services for the oil and gas sectors in Venezuela. The VEW 2027 exhibition, running February 22–24, gives service providers working under the license a platform to present their capabilities to operators.

OFAC’s licenses provide several routes for investment in Venezuela’s energy sector. GL 49B permits negotiations and contingent contracts for oil, gas, petrochemical and electricity projects, with performance subject to separate OFAC authorization. GL 52C allows qualifying established U.S. entities to enter new investment contracts and form related joint ventures involving PDVSA, subject to its conditions and exclusions. VEW 2027’s investment forums and bilateral meetings will provide opportunities for prospective investors to discuss projects and partnerships with Venezuelan energy stakeholders.

GL 50C authorizes transactions related to Venezuelan oil and gas operations involving bp, Chevron, Eni, Repsol, Shell and Maurel & Prom and their subsidiaries, subject to conditions and exclusions. Covered contracts with PDVSA must provide for dispute resolution in the United States, United Kingdom, France or Singapore. Payments to blocked parties generally must enter Treasury-designated accounts, with limited exceptions for local taxes, permits and fees; oil and gas taxes and royalties remain subject to the designated-account requirement. Shell has said the licensing changes enable its Dragon gas project to advance.

Those conditions distinguish Venezuela from most markets emerging from restricted access. Investors can contract with the national oil company under U.S. law while still drawing on arbitration provisions that were introduced in the January hydrocarbons reforms. The conditions, while extraordinary, are optimal for investment and supervised by a regulator that has described GL 52 as an incentive for capital to enter the country’s energy sector.

OFAC revised three of its Venezuela licenses as recently as September 28, and the framework continues to widen alongside the market it governs. Licensed operators, returning service companies and new investors will all be in Caracas for VEW 2027 to establish where they fit in Venezuela’s reopening energy sector.

Venezuela Energy Week 2027 takes place February 22–25 at the Simon Bolivar Convention Center in Caracas. Organized by Energy Capital & Power and taking place under the patronage of Acting President Delcy Rodríguez, PDVSA and the Ministry of Hydrocarbons, VEW is the country’s flagship oil and gas investment platform. To register or learn more about sponsorship and speaking opportunities, visit www.venezuelaenergyweek.com.