The U.S. Treasury Department has given companies in the oil and gas sector 45 days to "liquidate" their activities and transactions in the oil and gas sector in OPEC countries.
Senior US leaders have reported that the move is in response to President Nicolas Maduro's failure to comply with some electoral commitments. The U.S. Treasury Department had largely eased Venezuela's oil sanctions, moving on to reimpose punitive measures. The sanctions were imposed after Maduro refused to back down on an election promise. The U.N. Security Council voted this week to impose new sanctions on the Venezuelan government, accusing it of failing to respect electoral promises. The vote was the first in the council's history and the first since the death of former President Hugo Chavez in 2002.