GL 48A: The license that makes CORPOELEC a legal counterparty and opens Venezuela's power sector to U.S. suppliers
GL 48A is the most underrated license in the package. It does not trade oil — it supplies the goods, technology, software, and services that make production work.
GL 48A is the most underestimated license in the package. It does not trade oil — it supplies the goods, technology, software, and services that make production work. And as of March 13, it includes the electricity sector. CORPOELEC went from a prohibited entity to an authorized counterparty. For power equipment and grid infrastructure suppliers: the window is open.
The original GL 48 of February 2026 authorized goods and services for oil and gas exploration, development, and production. Full stop. GL 48A of March expanded that authorization in two simultaneous directions: petrochemicals and electricity. The inclusion of electricity generation, transmission, storage, and distribution transformed a petroleum license into an infrastructure license. CORPOELEC, the state-owned company that operates Venezuela's electrical system, went from a blocked entity with no access pathway to an expressly authorized counterparty.
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FURTHER READING
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GL 46C — Trade in Venezuelan-Origin Oil and Petrochemical Products
Authorizes an established U.S. entity to lift, export, sell, store, transport and refine Venezuelan-origin oil —and to import Venezuelan-origin petrochemical products into the U.S.— in transactions involving the Government of Venezuela and PdVSA, subject to U.S./allied law and forum and Treasury payment routing. Supersedes GL 46B.