POLITICAL TALKSFollowing oil sanctions on Venezuela in 2019, Chevron received an exemption to trade its Venezuelan crude to recoup pending debts.REFINERSThe authorization provides limited new supplies of crude to a market struggling to replace Russian barrels shunned by Western buyers over its invasion of Ukraine.Terms will "require significant reporting by Chevron on financial operations of their joint ventures to ensure transparency," a U.S. official said, adding that other sanctions on Venezuela and its officials remain in place.The United States earlier this year began considering Chevron's request to expand operations with more urgency as Washington sought oil to replace supplies hit by sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine and more recently as OPEC cut its output.Venezuela holds about 300 billion barrels of oil reserves, the world's largest, but has been unable to hit its production targets due to underinvestment, poor maintenance, lack of supplies and U.S. sanctions."