The U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Friday issued a general license clearing the way for certain large oil companies to invest in new operations in Venezuela. 

The companies cited under the newly issued OFAC license include Chevron, Shell, BP, ENI, and Repsol. The Treasury Department agency separately issued a general license that permits other companies to negotiate and enter contracts to extract oil and gas from the South American nation on the condition that OFAC first signs off on the deals.

Venezuela once extracted more than 3-million barrels of oil per day in the 1990s, according to The Wall Street Journal. But the nation’s oil output in recent years has dwindled to less than a third of that amount, in part due to low investment and greatly needed repairs, the newspaper said. 

OFAC’s new general licenses require payments of oil-and-gas royalties or taxes to the Venezuelan government or its state-run energy arm, Petróleos de Venezuela, the Journal noted. 

Read the OFAC licenses here

Read more at The Wall Street Journal