From Blockade to Business: Trump’s Strategy to Reclaim Venezuelan Energy Assets

Abstract

This article examines the shift in United States policy toward

Venezuela’s energy sector after the removal of Nicolás Maduro

in January 2026, from the sanctions-centred “maximum

pressure” approach of 2017–2024 toward a transactional,

business-oriented strategy. Using qualitative document

analysis of Executive Order 14373, OFAC General License 46,

policy research, legal commentary, and media records, the

study identifies three mechanisms: U.S. custody of oil

revenues shielded from creditor attachment, conditional

sanctions relief for established U.S. entities, and crude

marketing through U.S.-designated intermediaries. These

mechanisms have restarted exports and narrowed the space

for Chinese and Russian actors, but they remain fragile: major

investors consider the sector uninvestable without legal

reform, the revenue mechanism raises unresolved questions

of sovereignty and creditor rights, and the licenses can be

revoked by future administrations. The article concludes that

the approach is a transitional, executive-driven protectorate

arrangement rather than a stable model of regional energy

security.