The U.K. on March 24 revised two Russia-related general licenses to capture certain transactions with Russian commercial bank T-Bank. The licenses, which authorize certain humanitarian activity and energy-related payments, had previously allowed certain transactions with Rosbank or Tinkoff Bank. Tinkoff Bank has since changed its name to T-Bank (see 2503070043), and the company operates Rosbank as one of its branches.
The U.S. is giving oil company Chevron more time to wind down certain oil activities in Venezuela that had been authorized by an Office of Foreign Assets Control general license, OFAC said March 24.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week updated several general licenses related to the Yemen-based Houthis, also known as Ansarallah, the group designated by the Trump administration as a foreign terrorist organization (see 2503040008).
Although President Donald Trump has ordered his administration to reimpose maximum sanctions pressure against Iran, a State Department spokesperson on March 6 declined to say whether the U.S. plans to allow a waiver to expire this week that has authorized exports to Iraq of Iranian gas and electricity.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on March 6 again extended a general license that continues to delay an exemption that would authorize certain transactions related to Petroleos de Venezuela, the country’s state-owned energy company. General License 5R, which replaced GL 5Q, now authorizes certain transactions with PdVSA involving an 8.5% bond on or after July 3. The previous license was set to allow those transactions to occur on or after March 7.
U.S. oil company Chevron will have until 12:01 a.m. ET on April 3 to wind down certain oil activities in Venezuela that had been authorized by an Office of Foreign Assets Control general license, OFAC said March 4. Updated General License 41A, which replaces GL 41, authorizes certain transactions “ordinarily incident and necessary to the wind down of transactions” related to Chevron’s joint ventures in Venezuela involving state-owned energy company Petroleos de Venezuela.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control soon will issue guidance about winding down Venezuela-related licenses after President Donald Trump said last week that he plans to reverse certain sanctions relief given to the country under the Biden administration (see 2502260056).
President Donald Trump on Feb. 26 said he is reversing certain sanctions relief provided to Venezuela by the Biden administration as part of an “oil transaction agreement” signed in November 2022. That date was when the Office of Foreign Assets Control granted U.S. oil company Chevron a general license to resume certain oil activities in Venezuela, which was intended to support the newly restarted negotiations between Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro’s regime and the country’s opposition party (see 2211280042).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control launched a new “file finder” function that allows users to search and “efficiently navigate” all content published on the agency’s website. The search function, published Feb. 20, allows users to search for general licenses, Federal Register notices, executive orders and other legal documents, press charts, advisories, specific guidance and “many other records.” Users can search by document title, document type and the contents of each document. Questions should be directed to O_F_A_C@treasury.gov.
The U.K. on Feb. 12 published a general license permitting humanitarian activity in Syria. The license allows for the U.N., humanitarian organizations with observer status with the U.N. General Assembly, bilaterally or multilaterally funded non-governmental organizations taking part in the UN Humanitarian Response Plans and international organizations conducting relief activities in Syria to engage in activities needed to "provide humanitarian assistance, other activities that support basic human needs and facilitate the timely provision of those activities in Syria." Any parties carrying out those activities must "provide written notice to HM Treasury within 30 days of commencing the activity."