US eases sanctions on Venezuelan oil industry

WASHINGTON, Jan 29 (Reuters) - The Trump administration on Thursday eased some sanctions on the Venezuelan oil industry as it seeks to expand production there after U.S. forces ousted the South American country's President Nicolas Maduro on January 3.

The U.S. Treasury issued a general license authorizing transactions involving the government of Venezuela and state oil company PDVSA that are "ordinarily incident and necessary to the lifting, exportation, reexportation, sale, resale, supply, storage, marketing, purchase, delivery, or transportation of Venezuelan-origin oil, including the refining of such oil, by an established U.S. entity."