Bigger shipments could lower costs
The larger cargoes could cut transportation costs for traders and buyers, who have complained that prices around $15 per barrel below Brent for Venezuela’s Merey heavy crude agreed last month for initial purchases have become too expensive amid the market’s backwardation, in which shipments for later delivery are cheaper than near-term supplies.
At least three VLCCs chartered by Vitol and Trafigura, the Nissos Kea, Nissos Kythnos and Arzanah, have been assigned March loading windows at Jose, according to shipping data and sources familiar with the matter.
They are all bound for India, the sources said. Another supertanker, Olympic Lion, was signalling Venezuela as its destination this week with the expected arrival in late March, according to LSEG ship tracking.
The charterer was not immediately known. The trading houses have recently sold Venezuelan heavy crude cargoes to Indian refiners, including Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp and HPCL Mittal Energy (HMEL) as the Asian country tries to reduce Russian oil imports, a move that helped New Delhi clinch a trade deal with Washington.