The United States is set to reinstate oil sanctions on Venezuela.

In October last year, the US granted relief from sanctions on Venezuela’s state-run oil, gas and mining sectors, after the Government agreed to work with the opposition to ensure free and fair elections in July.

In a release, the US State Department says “Despite delivering on some of the commitments made under the Barbados electoral roadmap, we are concerned that Maduro and his representatives prevented the democratic opposition from registering the candidate of their choice, harassed and intimidated political opponents, and unjustly detained numerous political actors and members of civil society.”

As such, it will allow General License 44, which authorizes transactions related to oil or gas sector operations in Venezuela, to expire at 12:01AM on April 18th 2024.

It adds that in order to implement an orderly process following the expiration of General License 44, the US will issue a 45-day wind-down license.

It says Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control also will consider requests for specific licenses to continue activities beyond the end of the wind-down period on a case-by-case basis.