The United States has confirmed it will allow China to continue buying oil from Venezuela, but at new, increased prices.
Following the seizure of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro earlier this month, the Trump administration said it would be controlling sales of oil out of the nation indefinitely, calling on major oil companies to step in and invest in the Venezuelan oil market to help revitalise it.
Now, the Trump administration has said it will allow China to continue purchasing Venezuelan oil, but at a presumably higher cost, calling Maduro era prices “unfair” and “undercut”.
The oil will be sold in the global marketplace, but an anonymous official said that the administration has required that the majority be sold to the U.S.
China has been one of the top buyers of oil from Venezuela for years, sold to them at a loss for the nation, to help repay massive debts to Beijing.
“Thanks to President [Donald] Trump’s decisive and successful law enforcement operation, the people of Venezuela will collect a fair price for their oil from China and other nations rather than a corrupt, cheap price,” the same administration official said to Reuters.
