The United States has revised three Venezuela-related sanctions licences to explicitly name methanol among the petrochemical products covered under permissions for certain oil trade, supply activities, and preliminary investment negotiations, according to documents issued by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on 29 September. The move is a technical amendment rather than a broad easing of sanctions on Venezuela.

What the revised licences cover

OFAC issued General Licences 46E, 48D, and 49B, replacing their earlier versions. A comparison of the documents shows methanol added under five tariff classifications in each licence's chemical annex, alongside existing entries such as urea, ammonia, phosphates, and sulphuric acid. The core permissions and restrictions otherwise remain substantially unchanged.

General Licence 46E permits an established US entity — defined as one organised under US law by 29 January 2025 — to undertake specified transactions involving Venezuelan oil or petrochemical products for import into the United States. Covered activities include transport, sale, storage, and refining, subject to conditions. Companies must file reports whenever Venezuelan-origin oil is sold or supplied to countries other than the US, identifying parties, quantities, values, destination, and payments to the Venezuelan government.

General Licence 48D covers goods, software, technology, and services supplied from the United States or by a US person for oil, gas, and petrochemical activity in Venezuela, as well as defined work on the country's electricity infrastructure. It permits maintenance and repair of existing operations but does not authorise new joint ventures in Venezuela or dealings related to diluent exports to the country. Companies operating under this licence must report transactions to the US State and Energy departments.

General Licence 49B addresses an earlier stage of investment — allowing negotiations and contingent contracts for certain new oil, gas, petrochemical, and electricity projects. Actual performance of those contracts still requires separate OFAC authorisation. The licence also permits preparatory work, including legal, technical, safety, and environmental assessments.

Scope and limitations of the changes

The revisions do not constitute a general lifting of Venezuela sanctions. No specific shipment or investment has been announced, and the documents provide no estimate of how much methanol might be traded under the revised terms. All three licences retain exclusions involving certain parties connected to Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, and China, as well as blocked vessels. None of the revised documents names India, an Indian company, or a particular methanol shipment.

Methanol's role and commercial context

Methanol is an industrial chemical used as a feedstock for a wide range of chemical products and can also serve as a fuel or fuel component. The US revisions govern the terms of sanctions permissions only — they do not set prices or compel companies to buy or sell the chemical. Trade and supply licences require that contracts with the Venezuelan government or state oil company include dispute resolution clauses in the United States, Britain, France, or Singapore. Payments to blocked persons, apart from specified local taxes, permits, or fees, must follow Treasury's designated account arrangements.

Broader context

The amendment reflects incremental recalibration of US energy-related sanctions policy toward Venezuela rather than a strategic shift. This is the latest in a series of licence revisions that have periodically adjusted the scope of permitted petrochemical trade without dismantling the underlying sanctions architecture. Analysts note that such technical additions can signal commercial interest from US-linked entities without committing to a formal policy change. Whether companies will act on the revised permissions remains to be seen.