Total crude oil and fuel exports increased to 437,600 barrels per day.
By:
Reuters
09:32 AM / 03/09/2020-
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Venezuela’s oil exports recovered slightly in August after two months at record lows, driven by an increase in sales to India, according to internal documents from state-owned PDVSA and data from Refinitiv Eikon.
Total crude oil and fuel exports increased to 437,600 barrels per day (bpd) in August, according to the data, up from the roughly 400,000 bpd shipped in June and July, which were the lowest levels since the 1940s for the OPEC member nation, which has the largest oil reserves on the planet.
But the rise in both exports and imports could be short-lived if Washington takes steps in the coming weeks to remove exemptions to sanctions that have facilitated Venezuela-related oil trade.
The United States plans to toughen sanctions after blacklisting customers and ship owners working with PDVSA earlier this year. But a handful of customers continue to receive Venezuelan crude under authorizations granted by Washington to exchange oil for fuel, so no cash payments go to the government of President Nicolás Maduro.
In July, India’s Reliance Industries resumed loading Venezuelan crude under a swap agreement allowed by the US Treasury Department after a three-month hiatus.
The authorization allowed Reliance to re-emerge as the largest buyer of Venezuelan oil, taking in 216,000 bpd last month, almost half of total exports, according to the data.
The second largest destination for Venezuela’s oil in August was Cuba with almost 66,000 bpd of crude and refined products, followed by Europe with 65,000 bpd. The country exported a total of 17 shipments last month, the data showed.
The OPEC member nation’s fuel imports rose in August to 53,160 bpd of mostly diesel and diesel delivered through exchanges, the data said.
PDVSA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Venezuelan state company has boosted its transfer operations between ships near Amuay Bay to load export tankers offshore in recent months, instead of in Jose, its main terminal for oil exports. The number of vessels making ‘dark voyages’ to Venezuela, which turn off their satellite signal during the entire cargo operation, has also increased, according to Eikon data.
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