The U.S. Department of the Treasury has eased restrictions allowing American companies to operate in Venezuela’s oil market, although under strict oversight and reporting conditions

Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA has begun storing crude oil and fuels on tankers as onshore inventories rise amid U.S. seizures of vessels linked to Venezuela, according to company documents and maritime data

Venezuela’s state-run PDVSA is preparing to recover a portion of the oil output lost in recent months by boosting crude blending operations at its main producing region, the Orinoco Belt

The move will provide partial relief to widespread fuel shortages in the once-prosperous OPEC nation, whose 1.3 million- bpd refining network is mostly halted because of years of underinvestment and lack of maintenance

The plan to shut wells at the onshore portions of the Lagunillas and Bachaquero fields near Lake Maracaibo is due to a lack of available storage space as inventories mount due to a drop in exports