- PETROQUÍMICA
OFAC added methanol to the Venezuelan petrochemical products that can be sold into the United States under license.
Metanol venezolano: 22,7% del valor importado por EE. UU. de enero a julio de 2026 · Metor: 1,6 millones de toneladas al año
affects US importers and Metor's Japanese partners
- MINERÍA
The Minerven gold Trafigura has imported since March is reported to remain unsold in the United States.
Contrato de un año con prepago · licencia 51A: refinación permitida salvo en cinco países · primer envío: 5 de marzo
affects anyone financing mines or buying gold in El Callao
- MERCADOS
Brent rose after Washington rejected Iran's proposal on Hormuz, and gold fell to its lowest since August 5.
Brent: 106,12 dólares, última cotización del lunes · máximo del día: 108,83 · banda Merey: 92,12-98,12
affects sellers of Venezuelan crude and anyone tracking central bank reserves
The license arrived after the business. Venezuela sold the United States $49 million of methanol in 2025, and almost as much from January to July this year, because the state does not control Metor. What changed on Monday is who can sit on the selling side: Pequiven, the state partner, enters the authorized perimeter, and whatever it is paid goes into the accounts Washington holds in custody. The market the license covers is the fourth-largest buyer of Venezuelan methanol; China paid more than four times that value in 2025, and that trade remains outside this text. With Minerven's gold the order is reversed: the license has existed since March and what is missing is a refiner willing to sign off on the origin. The first test for methanol is the August-to-October import data.
The last Brent quote on Monday, September 28, the day Washington confirmed it had rejected the Iranian proposal to reopen Hormuz.
Donald Trump confirmed on Monday that he had rejected the Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and Brent touched $108.83. It came off that high on reports that Saudi Arabia had brought its pipeline to the Red Sea back to around 3.5 million barrels a day. The same move pushed gold to its lowest since August 5, with dearer crude feeding bets on another US rate increase. For Venezuela the two prices pull in opposite directions. The calculated Merey band rises with the barrel, and the monetary gold the central bank counts in its reserves is worth less.
OFAC replaced licenses 46D, 48C and 49A with 46E, 48D and 49B on Monday the 28th. The only substantive change is methanol, which joins the annex of petrochemical products.
The US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control issued general licenses 46E, 48D and 49B on Monday, September 28, replacing 46D and 48C of August 27 and 49A of March 13. The operative text of all three is unchanged. The annex listing the chemicals covered by "petrochemical products" adds methanol, under five tariff codes. In 46E those products are authorized only for importation into the United States. The action brought no new frequently asked questions.
OFAC, Departamento del Tesoro ↗GL 46E, 48D y 49B · 28-sep-2026 · metanol: 5 códigos arancelarios · Metor: 1,6 Mt/año, Pequiven 37,5% · EE. UU. desde Venezuela: US$49 M en 2025, US$47,3 M ene-jul 2026 (22,7%)Metor, the Jose plant, can produce 1.6 million tonnes a year and is not majority state-owned. Pequiven holds 37.5%; Mitsubishi Gas Chemical and Mitsubishi Corporation 47.5% between them. That is why its methanol kept entering the United States under sanctions. What did not fit in the license was the state partner: a February FAQ excludes methanol from petroleum products, and the annex did not name it. Since Monday, a sale into the United States with state participation is authorized.
The US importer of Venezuelan methanol: it was buying without an authorization that named the product and now has one, provided the contract sends disputes to the United States, the United Kingdom, France or Singapore.
Trinidad and Tobago's producers, the leading supplier of methanol to the United States: in 2025 Venezuelan methanol came in 31% cheaper per tonne.
INDICADORUS imports of Venezuelan methanol from August to October 2026. · Las estadísticas mensuales de comercio exterior de Estados Unidos de agosto, septiembre y octubre de 2026.
The gold Minerven has sold to Trafigura since March is reported to be sitting unsold in US warehouses. Trafigura says its supply-chain due diligence is still ongoing.
Three unnamed sources are reported as saying that the semi-refined gold Trafigura has imported into the United States since March, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, sits unsold in warehouses, and that part of it comes from mining brigades that pay protection to a gang in El Callao. Trafigura, Minerven and the Venezuelan government have not confirmed it. The trading house said its supply-chain due diligence is ongoing and that its auditor has not identified illegal actors at the mines. The first shipment left on March 5.
The New York Times — fuentes sin nombre ↗Refinación permitida salvo en 5 países (GL 51A, 27-mar) · cadena de custodia cada 30 días (GL 51D) · contrato Minerven–Trafigura: un año, prepago · hasta 400 kg al mes (reportado)Since March 27, license 51A allows Venezuelan gold to be refined in any country except Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba and China; the March 6 version allowed it only in the United States. What is missing does not depend on the Treasury: refiners on the London market's good delivery list must disclose, starting with their 2026 reports, which countries they receive mined material from. Taking Minerven's gold means naming Venezuela.
Minerven, on what it already sold: the contract with Trafigura is a prepayment, so the buyer carries the risk of gold without a refiner. That payment does not reach its till: it goes into the accounts Washington holds in custody.
Trafigura, if the report is confirmed, with inventory that has no outlet. And Heeney Capital and Mercuria, which reckon their agreements could one day move $2.2 billion a year in minerals: that gold will need the same refiner.
INDICADORA refiner publicly declaring Minerven gold, or the resale of Trafigura's inventory. · El derecho de compra de Trafigura es de un año y se firmó el 5 de marzo de 2026.