The US Treasury Department has eased sanctions on Venezuela's oil sector, as the Trump administration looks to ramp up investment and production in the country after abducting its president, Nicolas Maduro.
The department issued a general license on Thursday allowing transactions that involve Venezuela's government and state oil firm PDVSA "ordinarily incident and necessary to the lifting, exportation, reexportation, sale, resale, supply, storage, marketing, purchase, delivery, or transportation of Venezuelan-origin oil."
This includes the refining of such oil by an established US entity, the Treasury license said.
The decision to issue a general license marks a shift from a previous plan to grant individual exemptions to sanctions for companies seeking to do business in the country.
Venezuela opens oil industry to greater private investment
Venezuela's legislature, meanwhile, adopted a bill that throws its oil industry open to private investors, in line with US demands.
Lawmakers in the South American country adopted reforms to a hydrocarbons bill that roll back decades of tight state control over foreign investment in the sector.
"Only good things will come after the suffering," vowed National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez, brother of the country's interim President Delcy Rodriguez.
Under the legislation, private companies can independently engage in oil exploration and extraction and commercialisation without having to enter joint ventures with the state oil company PDVSA.
