Biden removes Venezuela-related sanctions on Italian oil firm

The Biden administration has lifted restrictions on Italian oil companies that the former Trump administration blacklisted on its final day in office over ties to Venezuela’s sanction-hit oil sector.

A White House official said earlier in March that the administration of President Joe Biden is in “no rush” to remove US sanctions against Venezuela, signaling the continuation of predecessor Donald Trump’s unsuccessful goal of overthrowing the elected government of President Nicolas Maduro.

According to a report by the Hill on Thursday, the Treasury Department removed the special designation of four entities related to Alessandro Bazzoni, who is described as the head of the trading firms alleged to be part of an illicit network aimed at moving Venezuelan oil to circumvent the illegal sanctions. The entities include Serigraphiclab, AMG S.A.S. Di Alessandro Bazzoni & C.; AMG S.A.S. Di Alessandro Bazzoni E C.; and AMG S.A.S. Di Alessandro Bazzoni And C.

The Treasury Department did not return a request for comment on why the entities were deleted from the sanctions list of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), whose designations block any assets of the identified person or entities in the US and American citizens are generally prohibited from dealing with the individuals or entities.

Bazzoni was accused by the department as being a “principal actor” and a “core facilitator” in the scheme, part of a network that bought blacklisted oil from Venezuela’s state oil company, PdVSA, and resold it to third-party customers.

The US blacklisted PdVSA in 2019, part of its sanctions regime against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. 

The sanctions increased the roles of many other players in Venezuela's oil sector, including Russia’s Rosneft, India’s Reliance Industries and Italy’s Eni, as well as Iran's oil companies. 

MG