07 February 2019, London — French oil company, Total has been blocked from accessing its accounts in Venezuela.
In a statement by the company’s chief executive, Patrick Pouyanne said on Thursday, the accounts were blocked as a result of U.S. sanctions.
Pouyanne however, did not, aside from the sanctions on ground, state what other reasons might have transpired for Total’s accounts to have been singled out.
The U.S. had sanctioned Venezuela’s oil industry last week, to cut off President Nicolas Maduro’s primary source of revenue.
The sanctions limit transactions between U.S. companies that do business with Venezuela through purchases of crude oil and sales of refined products.
The sanctions also aim to freeze sales proceeds from Venezuelan state-run oil firm PDVSA’s exports of roughly 500,000 barrels per day of crude to the United States.
There is also a prohibition on U.S firms exporting diluents, unfinished oils used for blending extra heavy crude, to Venezuela.