Maurel Et Prom Share Price (MAU.PA)

Paris, 19 February 2026

N° 08-26

M&P included in OFAC’s General License 50A

related to Venezuela

Etablissements Maurel & Prom S.A. (“M&P”, the “Group”) is pleased to announce that it has been included in

General License 50A (“GL 50A”) issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets

Control (“OFAC”) on 18 February 2026. GL 50A replaces and supersedes GL 50 in its entirety and expressly

lists M&P among the limited number of authorised entities.....

......Olivier de Langavant, Chief Executive Officer of M&P, declared: “This is an important and constructive

development for M&P. The clarity provided by GL 50A will enable us to operate with confidence and to

participate in the sustainable growth of Venezuela’s oil sector. Our teams are fully mobilised on Urdaneta

Oeste and ready to advance the next phases of the field’s development.”

All sounds good to me. We should get that M&P release in the morning or maybe within a few days.

Q) M&P are owed quite a large sum going back years from PDVSA and under a previous GL thet began to start to recover some of the debt. Then that GL as we now became inoperative. Now looking at todays 50A it says "Except as provided in paragraph (b)...... (b) This general license does not authorize:....... "((1) Payment terms that ..... "involve debt swaps" so do we think that precludes recovering past arrears from PDVSA or does it mean something else?

A) You’re highlighting the difference between debt recovery (getting paid back) and debt swaps (trading debt for something else).

Under General License 50 (GL 50), the prohibition on "debt swaps" in paragraph (b)(1) is a specific restriction on the method of payment, not necessarily an outright ban on recovering past arrears.

Here is how that clause typically functions in this context:

1. What "Debt Swaps" Means Here

In OFAC terms, a debt swap usually refers to a transaction where a creditor (like M&P) would "swap" the debt PDVSA owes them for a new asset, equity in a project, or potentially a discount on future oil in a way that creates a new financial instrument.

The Restriction: OFAC wants to prevent companies from bypassing the new financial controls by "trading" old debt for new investments without money moving through the approved Foreign Government Deposit Funds account.

2. Recovering Arrears vs. Swapping Debt

Authorized Recovery: Under previous licenses (like GL 44), M&P had an agreed mechanism to recover its $914 million in arrears by allocating a portion of the revenue from their mixed company (Petroregional del Lago).

GL 50 Framework: GL 50 authorizes "all transactions ordinarily incident and necessary" to oil and gas operations. This typically includes the payment of invoices for past services or goods.

The Catch: While you can recover arrears, the payment terms must be "commercially reasonable". If the recovery is structured as a simple cash-off-the-top from production (as M&P previously arranged), it may not be viewed as a "debt swap," but rather as a standard repayment of receivables.

3. Key Hurdles for M&P

Account Control: The biggest change is that GL 50 requires most monetary payments to be deposited into U.S.-controlled accounts. If M&P's debt recovery involves PDVSA paying them directly, they may need specific guidance on whether that "recovery" counts as a "payment to a blocked person" that must go into the Treasury-instructed fund.

Case-by-Case Specifics: OFAC often treats the settlement of "old debt" (pre-2017/2018) differently than new debt. Since M&P's arrears are long-standing, they are likely covered by their "active dialogue" with OFAC to ensure their specific repayment stru

I asked Gemini AI.

Q) looking at OFAC general license 50a Dated: February 18, 2026 just released, it now looks like maurel and prom are now able to restart field operations in Venezuela (which should enable them to boost production). is that how this new ofac directive reads?

A) As of February 18, 2026, Maurel & Prom (M&P) has reportedly been granted permission by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to operate in Venezuela’s oil and gas sector. While earlier reports from February 16 indicated that M&P was not initially included in the list of authorized entities under General License 50 (GL 50), the latest updates on February 18, 2026, suggest they have now become the sixth energy company permitted to carry out these transactions.

Understanding General License 50 (GL 50)

General License 50 is a primary mechanism for the "sweeping relaxation" of sanctions on Venezuela's energy sector following the capture of former President Nicolás Maduro in January 2026.

Scope of Activities: The license authorizes all transactions ordinarily incident and necessary to oil or gas sector operations in Venezuela for the named entities and their subsidiaries. This includes restarting and expanding upstream activities.

Financial Conditions: To comply with GL 50, most monetary payments (such as royalties and taxes) must be deposited into a U.S.-controlled Foreign Government Deposit Funds account. However, payments for local taxes, permits, or fees are generally excluded from this requirement and can be made directly.

Impact on Field Operations

The directive is designed to allow these specific international oil companies (IOCs) to deepen their partnerships with the state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). For Maurel & Prom, which holds a 40% stake in the Urdaneta Oeste field, this authorization is expected to facilitate the transition from maintaining current production (which averaged 8,400 bopd net to M&P in January 2026) to active field redevelopment and boost output.

It can be quite difficult interpreting the legalities of the various OFAC directives that have been issued over the past few weeks but looks like we are finally there with General Licence 50A 18th Feb , 2026 downloadable from here

https://ofac.treasury.gov/recent-actions

If that's correct. Good news for M&P as it means they will be able to restart expansion operations and hopefully recover more of their debt arrears due from PDVSA/Venezuela. Let's see if M&P confirm this understanding.