MIAMI (AP) — A company started by a Texas billionaire oilman announced a deal Wednesday with Venezuela’s state-owned oil company to rehabilitate five aging oil fields, days after the Biden administration put a brake on sanctions relief over concerns about the fairness of the country’s upcoming presidential election.
LNG Energy Group is a publicly traded company listed in Canada that produces natural gas in Colombia. It was created last year as a result of a merger with a company owned by Rod Lewis, a legendary Texas wildcatter who Forbes Magazine once called the “only gringo allowed to drill in Mexico.”
As part of the deal announced Wednesday, LNG was awarded contracts by state-run PDVSA to take over production and develop two oil fields in eastern Venezuela that currently produce about 3,000 barrels of crude per day.
LNG said the deal was executed within the framework of sanctions relief announced by the U.S. government last year in support of an agreement between President Nicolas Maduro and his opponents to hold a competitive presidential election this year. Last week, the Biden administration reimposed sanctions as hopes for a democratic opening in Venezuela fade.
More than 1 in 4 US adults over age 50 say they expect to never retire, an AARP study finds
VOX POPULI: The special charm of Gaudi’s unfinished work: Sagrada Familia
Bill to remove Easter alcohol restrictions drawn from ballot
Corrections defends pace of change: 'There is no reluctance'
Kourtney Kardashian, 45, shows off her incredible post
Department of Conservation set to lose scientific expertise in job cuts
OJ Simpson death: Who was he, was he ever convicted, and why was he acquitted?
HKFP launches permanent digital archive of the History Museum's 'Hong Kong Story'
Remnants of bird flu are found in grocery store milk
New police search for missing mum Samantha Murphy in bushland in Victoria
Poland's prosecutor general says previous government used spyware against hundreds of people
VOX POPULI: Molds can make food colorful and tasty but they can also be lethal