HOUSTON, May 28 (Reuters) - Houston-based investment

fund Amos Global Energy is waiting for a license from the U.S.

Treasury Department to complete the purchase of Chinese

Sinopec's stake in a shallow-water oil and gas project in

Venezuela, the company said on Tuesday.

Washington last month did not to renew a broad license that

had allowed Venezuela to freely export its oil and take in new

investment following Venezuela's failure to meet a pact for a

competitive election. The U.S. instead has begun issuing

individual authorizations to companies wanting to resume or

start operations in the South American country.

The U.S. recently granted France's Maurel & Prom

and Spain's Repsol licenses to continue and expand oil

and gas projects in Venezuela. More than 20 other firms are

waiting for green light.

Companies willing to do business in the sanctioned country's

energy industry need the licenses for specific transactions,

including investments.

Amos, which in 2022 formed a joint venture with a unit of

Venezuela's engineering firm Inelectra to gain access to

minority stakes in the Petroguiria and Petroparia projects in

Venezuela's promising Paria Gulf area, is now looking to expand

its influence there.

If its proposal to buy Sinopec's 32% in Petroparia is

completed and cleared by the U.S., Amos and its partners would

control 40% of that project and 16% of neighboring Petroguiria,

said Ali Moshiri, Amos' chief executive.

"We applied for the license a year and a half ago, and we

are hopeful that will get it in the coming weeks," Moshiri told

Reuters.

Amos has made initial contact with Italy's Eni to

negotiate its possible participation in a third project in

Paria, Petrosucre. All of the company's targeted private sector

transactions in Venezuela are expected to be backed by the U.S.

license.

"The three projects must be developed together," the

executive said. Crude output is planned to be a priority, but

gas has a large potential, he said.

Petrosucre is the only active project in Paria, but crude

production there has dwindled to less than 3,000 barrels per day

(bpd) since U.S. sanctions in 2019 froze the joint venture's

exports to the United States.

Crude and associated gas reserves have been proven in Paria,

but Moshiri - a former Chevron top executive in Venezuela -

believes the shallow-water area can anchor a large gas project.

"Investors looking at Venezuela now are more excited with

the possibility of putting money for gas, especially for

liquefied natural gas (LNG)," he said, explaining that gas well

productivity is high and the country does not have major

transportation issues.

Venezuela has about 30 trillion cubic feet of non associated

gas reserves, which remain largely undeveloped due to lack of

investment, and more recently US sanctions.

"The country's strategy has shifted to focus on the

possibility of processing the gas at Trinidad and Tobago's LNG

facilities, but Venezuela has gas enough of its own for a LNG

development," Moshiri said.