A lack of very large crude carriers to transport bigger cargoes also limited exports from Venezuela, whose main oil port, the Jose terminal, handles about 70 per cent of total shipments, creating a need for larger vessels to cut down loading times.
Overall, oil exports in February were 6.5 per cent lower than in January and stood 19 per cent below the same month of 2025. The trading houses exported a total of 26.9 million barrels since they began marketing and shipping the country’s crude and fuel last month, according to the data, of some 40 million barrels sold so far under US oversight.
Venezuela’s direct exports to the US rose 32 per cent to about 375,000 bpd, shipments to Europe increased ninefold to 158,000 bpd and Chevron sold its first cargo of Venezuelan heavy crude to India’s refiner Reliance Industries in three years.
With at least half a dozen supertankers navigating to Venezuela to pick up cargoes, exports are expected to accelerate in March, particularly to India, the data showed.
(Reporting by Marianna Parraga; Editing by Brendan O’Boyle and Bill Berkrot)