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Europe’s two biggest energy companies are struggling to collect nearly $6 billion in payments from Venezuela and facing indifference from U.S. officials over the debt, according to two people familiar with the situation.
For several years, Italy’s Eni and Spain’s Repsol have supplied Venezuela with large quantities of gas and naphtha, which is used to dilute the country’s heavy oil so it can be more easily transported.
The two companies jointly own the Perla gasfield off the Venezuelan coast, underpinning Repsol’s claim to provide about a third of the gas used to generate the country’s electricity.
Until last March, they were receiving Venezuelan crude from the authorities as payment for gas. But as it stepped up pressure on Caracas, Washington said it would cut those payments by revoking a special permit for all foreign companies to operate before exempting U.S. oil major Chevron from the rule.
The move could lead to sanctions against energy groups if they continue to take payments.
Repsol and Eni have since continued to supply Venezuelan gas to the domestic market, while they have not received any payments in cash or crude, but are collecting IOUs. Despite heavy lobbying, no solution was found.
A person familiar with the situation said the administration’s “America First” policy was having an impact on European companies, which have felt a lack of urgency from the White House in solving their payment problems.
Clearview Energy Partners analyst Kevin Book said President Donald Trump’s first administration introduced carveouts in 2019 for some U.S. companies operating in Venezuela. “This is not a new strategy…the president uses the phrase ‘American First,’ no one should ignore that,” he said.
Repsol Chief Executive Officer Josue John Imaz had said his group was in talks to resolve the payment blockage before President Nicolas Maduro was ousted by the US on Saturday.
“We are maintaining a constructive and completely transparent dialogue with the U.S. administration at this time,” he said on an earnings call in October.
Analysts have suggested that both Eni and Repsol, among other European players, may be interested in investing in Venezuela’s energy sector in the future, but the companies declined to comment on the possibility or the debt they owe.
The $6 billion also includes some historic loans for naphtha supplied by Eni and Repsol to Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA in 2023.
Repsol has several assets in Venezuela, which was its second-largest market by production volume after the US in 2024, tied with Trinidad and Tobago. It produced 24 million barrels of oil equivalent, of which 85 percent was gas.
Repsol has 256 million barrels of proven oil equivalent on its books in Venezuela, accounting for 15 percent of the company’s total proven reserves in the country.
The U.S. Treasury, which issues special licenses to companies to operate in Venezuela, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
