The US military operation on January 3rd, which led to the kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro leaving a institutional void, temporarily filled by Delcy Rodriguez, not only upset the fragile stability in the country, but also redefined the geopolitics of oil, shifting shipping routes in favour of the US.
The recent news, reported by Lloyds List, of the first Venezuelan LPG shipment to the United States is further proof of how the Latin American country has opened its doors to international energy trade with the American continent.
It is no coincidence that the shipment of liquefied petroleum gas was loaded onto the Chrysopigi Lady, a Singapore-flagged vessel controlled by Greek interests and chartered by the Trafigura trading group, which, together with Vitol, is one of two operators authorized by Washington last month to trade shipments of Venezuelan oil.
With General Licence 46 (GL46), the White House has effectively ended top-level sanctions against Venezuela, authorizing the resumption of commercial transactions for the export of oil, gas and LPG. The license permits international vessels to load at Venezuelan terminals and, although it allows operations such as Trafigura and Vitol, it prohibits transactions with Russian, Iranian or Chinese entities still under sanctions and imposes transparency on financial flows, with part of the proceeds earmarked for humanitarian purposes and reconstruction.
The crude oil trade between Russia and Venezuela is clearly set to undergo a drastic reduction. Through Rosneft, Russia controlled about one-third of Venezuelan exports and boasted investments of $17 billion. The new interim government is under intense pressure to cancel or renegotiate these agreements in favour of US and European companies.
India, one of Russia’s longtime customers, has also begun to reduce its imports of Russian crude oil (down to 1.12 million barrels a day in January 2026) and replace them with American and Venezuelan ones, thanks to new tariff agreements with the Trump administration.
Meanwhile, Venezuelan oil exports saw a strong recovery last month compared to December, up to around 800,000 barrels per day, close to Venezuela’s average for last year.
Translation by Giles Foster
