According to PDVSA’s export schedules updated this week, Vitol, Trafigura and Chevron continue lifting the lion’s share of Venezuela’s oil exports, despite multiple meetings between the state company and other companies, including refiners in the US and elsewhere, to negotiate direct purchases.
Venezuelan oil exports rose to some 800,000 barrels per day in January from 498,000 bpd in December, shipping data showed.
Levels remain below last year’s average, however, which has prevented a massive drain of accumulated stocks.
Traders are likely to resell Venezuelan oil to Europe and Asia as refiners along the US Gulf Coast are struggling to absorb the rapid surge in Venezuelan crude shipments after millions of Venezuelan barrels were diverted away from China over the last two months.
(Reporting by Arathy Somasekhar and Marianna Parraga in Houston, Nicole Jao and Saeed Azhar in New York, Rob Harvey and Dmitry Zhdannikov in London. Editing by Nathan Crooks and Chizu Nomiyama)