U.S. orders Chevron to 'wind down' Venezuela

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The last U.S oil company operating in Venezuela, Chevron, was issued a new license from the U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday (April 21) to keep operating in the country despite the US imposed sanctions that bar imports of Venezuelan oil and transactions.

Chevron has been given until December 1st to wind down its joint ventures in the country.

The recent plunge in oil prices has crushed Latin American's economies and most affected Colombia and Venezuela because their tax revenues depend on the value of their oil exports.

Analyst Luis Oliveros explains:

(SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) ECONOMIC ANALYST, LUIS OLIVEROS, SAYING:

Venezuela sells oil at a discount because it has no one to sell oil to. It has no one to buy gasoline from, nor the necessary additives for a refining system that is practically at a standstill. It does not have the money to import fuel and neither does it have the freedom to buy fuel from everyone. Today, this is the reality of the Venezuelan oil industry, which is generating countless problems for the country's economy."

The sanctions were introduced last year and were designed to starve the country of oil dollars and oust socialist Nicolas Maduro.