The sources declined to be identified as trade deal information is confidential. Valero, Vitol and Phillips 66 did not immediately reply to requests for comment. The White House also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Vitol and Trafigura bought the Venezuelan oil at a $15 a barrel discount to the global Brent benchmark, according to the sources. US Energy Secretary Chris Wright also said on Friday that initial sales of Venezuelan heavy crude worth some $500 million had been negotiated at $15 a barrel discount to Brent.
The trading houses will incur the cost to ship the crude to the US Gulf Coast, which ranges between $2.5 and $3.5 a barrel depending on the size of the tanker, shipping sources said. That would give them a margin of between $2 and $4 per barrel for the Venezuelan oil they resell.