The administration said it would renew sanctions that it temporarily lifted in October after Venezuela did not make sufficient progress toward a fair election. 

Companies will have 45 days to wind down their transactions with the nation’s oil and gas sector.

The sanctions were lifted in October after Venezuela agreed to certain election reforms. But this week, officials knocked Nicolás Maduro’s government for blocking the leading opposition candidate María Corina Machado.

Maduro was last reelected in 2018 in a contest that the U.S. described as a sham. New elections will take place in July. 

Amid U.S. actions to ease sanctions under the Biden administration, including the October decision, Venezuela’s oil exports grew and were up 12 percent last year according to Reuters.

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