MADRID (Reuters) – U.S. authorities have notified Spanish oil company Repsol that its license to export oil from Venezuela is to be revoked, a company spokesperson said on Monday, while Spain’s foreign minister promised to defend Repsol’s interests.
President Donald Trump’s administration told Repsol it had until May 27 to wind down its operations in the Southern American country, the spokesperson added.
Oil companies Maurel et Prom from France and Eni from Italy have said during the weekend they had been notified by the U.S. government that their respective authorisations to operate in Venezuela were revoked.
“I had contacts with (Repsol’s) CEO, and we are analysing the decision and talking about it,” Albares said in an interview with TV channel Tele 5.
“We should not rush at this moment until we know the details about the decision, what it means and how it could affect and the margin there is for dialogue to solve the issue and resolve the differences or clarify the doubts the U.S. administration may have,” he said.
Last week, Trump issued an executive order declaring that any country buying oil or gas from Venezuela will pay a 25% tariff on trades with the United States.
The previous administration had authorised exceptions to U.S. sanctions on Venezuela to allow individual companies to source Venezuelan oil to feed refineries from Spain to India.
The companies that had received licenses and comfort letters from Washington also include India’s Reliance Industries and U.S. Global Oil Terminals.
(Reporting by Pietro Lombardi, Editing by Inti Landauro and Andrei Khalip)
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