The Biden administration will reimpose broad sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry because the country’s strongman leader, Nicolas Maduro, failed to honor commitments signed in Barbados last year to allow for a free and fair elections this year and banned the elected opposition candidate María Corina Machado from running for president.

Senior Biden administration officials told reporters Wednesday that the Treasury Department will let a license that allows companies under U.S. jurisdiction to engage with the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA to produce and export oil and gas to expire on Thursday.

The companies will have 45 days to wind down operations. The license was issued for six months in October last year to encourage Maduro to comply with the terms of the deal signed with the opposition with the U.S.’s blessing on Oct. 17.

“Maduro and his representatives did not fully comply with the spirit or the letter of the agreement,” a senior administration official said, citing the ban on Machado and her substitute candidate, Corina Yoris, as well as the arrests of members of the opposition, civil society and campaign staffers.

The official said the decision not to renew the general license should not be taken as “a final decision that we no longer believe Venezuela can hold competitive and inclusive elections,” leaving open the possibility of a future reversal if, though unlikely, Maduro changes course.

“The Barbados agreements still represent the best available path for a more democratic, secure and prosperous Venezuela, if fully implemented,” the official said, adding the U.S. government will continue to engage with Maduro representatives and members of the opposition on the subject.

“There are some near-term decisions that the Venezuelan authorities will be making, which we will be watching and monitoring very carefully,” a second high-ranking official said.

However, the administration stopped short of shutting down limited extraction operations in Venezuela by the American multinational oil company Chevron, which had been authorized in 2022 in response to negotiations between the opposition and the Maduro regime.

The officials declined to comment on other authorizations, known as licenses, obtained by foreign companies to engage in operations in the Venezuelan oil sector. They also said companies can still apply for individual licenses to conduct business with Venezuela, which will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

Experts estimate that Venezuela saw as much as an additional $3 billion in revenues in the six months the oil sanctions were lifted.

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