Venezuela News

Venezuela's state oil firm PDVSA is toughening terms for buyers after a month-long halt to most exports of crude and fuel, demanding prepayment ahead of loadings in either cash, goods or services, company documents showed.PDVSA's new Chief Executive Pedro Tellechea put the move in place this month. It reinforces measures implemented last year after several buyers skipped out on payments for oil, which provides most of the South American country's income.After taking the helm, Tellechea launched an extensive audit of supply contracts…

Venezuela's oil exports last year declined due to infrastructure outages, U.S. sanctions and rising competition in its key Asia market despite assistance from ally Iran, according to shipping data and documents.Exports this year are expected to get a lift after the United States relaxed oil sanctions by authorizing some partners of state-run firm Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) to resume taking Venezuelan crude.Iran expanded its role in Venezuela last year, sending supplies to boost exports and technicians to repair a refinery.

A tanker chartered by the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) is loading Venezuelan crude for export, documents from state-run PDVSA show, providing evidence of the two countries’ latest tactics to expand their trade in defiance of U.S. sanctions.Venezuela and Iran have deepened their cooperation this year as Venezuela has exchanged gold and other commodities for Iranian food, condensate and fuel.Names of scrapped vessels are being used by several PDVSA (Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A.) customers, including NIOC, to disguise the routes and identities of the tankers they use.A very large crude carrier (VLCC), identified in PDVSA’s loading documents as the Ndros…

At least 18 oil tankers are expected to load oil for export from Venezuela in the coming weeks, according to tracking data and internal documents from state-run PDVSA, in a sign the sanctioned OPEC nation's crude exports may rebound this month.Venezuela's oil exports fell to their lowest levels since the 1940s in October, as some of Petroleos de Venezuela's last remaining clients halted trade with the company ahead of a deadline imposed by the United States.Washington sanctioned PDVSA and its partners last year to pressure Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to step down.But Maduro remains in power, and the potential rebound in oil shipments comes as PDVSA is adapting to a tightening of U.S.

The United States has assured Italian oil company Eni SpA that efforts to prevent a spill at a floating crude facility in Venezuela would not run afoul of sanctions, the company, and the U.S. State Department said on Monday.Images in recent months showing the Nabarima floating storage and offloading facility (FSO), part of the Petrosucre joint venture between Eni and Venezuela's state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela, tilting to its side have raised concerns of a potential environmental…

Venezuela's oil exports fell to a historic low of 359,000 barrels per day (bpd) in October as most of state-run PDVSA's long-term clients paused trade to meet a U.S. deadline to halt business with the firm, according to data seen by Reuters on Monday.The United States set an October-November deadline for PDVSA's long-term customers - including Italy Eni, Spain's Repsol and India's Reliance Industries - to stop oil swaps it had authorized this year as exceptions to sanctions on Venezuela.None of those companies loaded cargoes of Venezuelan crude in October…

Venezuela's state-run oil firm PDVSA is informing customers about a new hub for doing ship-to-ship transfers for exports in a location away from shore, a shift that could mean higher costs and less supervision, according to three sources.More than two-thirds of Venezuela's oil exports leave from the Jose terminal on the country's eastern coast, a large and heavily supervised facility with two monobuoys for exports and connected through pipelines to several crude upgraders.But with U.S.

The first of a group of three tankers carrying Iranian fuel for gasoline-starved Venezuela entered the waters of the South American nation on Monday, according to Refinitiv Eikon data, in the most recent sign of the countries' expanding trade.The two OPEC members have increased cooperation this year by exchanging crude, fuel, food, equipment for refineries and other industrial goods. Many details about the transactions are not available, however.The Iran-flagged tanker Forest, transporting some 270,000 barrels of fuel loaded in the Middle East, entered Venezuela's exclusive economic zone around 8:05 a.m. local time (1205 GMT) without any disturbances…

Venezuela's state-run PDVSA and Eni are looking at options to safely offload crude from a floating storage facility on Venezuela's eastern coast that has remained idle for over a year due to U.S. sanctions, according to sources close to the discussions and a statement from the Italian oil company.The companies suspended output at their joint venture Petrosucre shortly after Washington imposed sanctions on PDVSA in January 2019, depriving the partnership of its main crude buyer, PDVSA's U.S.-based refining subsidiary Citgo Petroleum.About 1.3 million barrels of Corocoro crude stored at the FSO (floating storage and offloading facility) have remained stuck in the vessel…

The United States is considering an October deadline for ending exemptions to Venezuelan sanctions that allow some companies and refiners to still receive the South American producer's oil, two sources said, as Washington seeks to raise the heat on President Nicolas Maduro.U.S. President Donald Trump has ramped up sanctions on Venezuela's state-run PDVSA, its key foreign partners and customers since it first imposed measures against the company in early 2019, seeking to oust the…

The United States said on Friday it had confiscated four Iranian fuel shipments that had been bound for Venezuela, disrupting a key supply line for both Tehran and Caracas as they defied U.S. sanctions.U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran should not be sending cargoes to Venezuela and added that the seized shipments were bound for Houston, Texas, a major U.S. oil shipping hub and suggested they may have already arrived."They're going to Houston. And, they're there," Trump told a White House news conference. "We're moving them, and moved, to Houston."The U.S. Justice Department said the seized cargo was now in U.S. custody "with the assistance of foreign partners…

A shipping joint venture between Venezuela and China has fallen apart in the wake of U.S. sanctions, resulting in the South American nation losing three supertankers at a time when foreign shippers are reluctant to carry its oil, court documents show.PetroChina Co Ltd, which had been state-run Petroleos de Venezuela’s partner in the Singapore-based joint venture CV Shipping Pte Ltd, took control of the three tankers between January and February, according the documents from a Singapore court reviewed by Reuters.The transfer of the Junin, Boyaca and Carabobo very large crude carriers (VLCC) has not been previously reported.It came after U.S.

Several companies that certify vessels are seaworthy and ship insurers have withdrawn services to tankers involved in the Venezuelan oil trade as the United States targets the maritime industry to tighten sanctions on the Latin American country.U.S. sanctions have driven Venezuela’s oil exports to their lowest levels in nearly 80 years, starving President Nicolas Maduro’s socialist government of its main source of revenue and leaving authorities short of cash for essential imports such as food and medicine.The sanctions are part of U.S.

The United States on Thursday lifted sanctions on Marshall Islands-based Delos Voyager Shipping Ltd and Greece-based Romina Maritime Co Inc that had been imposed last month over accusations the companies operated in the Venezuelan oil sector.The U.S. Treasury Department’s action lifted Venezuela-related sanctions on four companies, including Marshall-Islands based Adamant Maritime Ltd and Sanibel Shiptrade Ltd, as well as on four vessels.The move, which follows the delisting last month of other Greece- and Marshall Islands-based shipping firms, removed the remaining Greece-based companies blacklisted in June for transporting Venezuelan oil from the U.S.

U.S. prosecutors late on Wednesday filed a lawsuit to seize the gasoline aboard four tankers that Iran is shipping to Venezuela, the latest attempt by the Trump administration to increase economic pressure on the two U.S. foes.The government of Venezuelan Socialist President Nicolas Maduro has flaunted the tankers, which departed last month, to show it remains unbowed by U.S. pressure. The United States, has been pressing for Maduro’s ouster with a campaign of diplomatic measures and punitive measures, including sanctions on state oil company PDVSA.Gasoline shortages in Venezuela, like Iran a member of OPEC, have grown acute due to the U.S. sanctions, and the country has undergone an economic collapse.

The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on five Iranian ship captains who delivered oil to Venezuela, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reaffirmed Washington's backing for Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido.Speaking at a news conference, Pompeo said the ships delivered about 1.5 million barrels of Iranian gasoline and related components, and warned mariners against doing business with the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whose ouster Washington seeks."As a result of today’s sanctions, these captains’ assets will be blocked. Their careers and prospects will suffer from this designation," Pompeo said in a statement later."We will continue to support the National Assembly…

Tankers carrying nearly two months worth of Venezuelan oil output are stuck at sea as global refiners shun the nation’s crude to avoid falling foul of U.S. sanctions, according to industry sources, PDVSA documents and shipping data.Washington is tightening sanctions to cut Venezuela’s oil exports and deprive the government of socialist President Nicolas Maduro of its main source of revenue.The OPEC member’s exports are hovering near their lowest levels in more than 70 years and the economy has collapsed, but Maduro has held on - to the frustration of the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.Washington has blacklisted ships and…

An Iranian ship was approaching the Venezuelan port of La Guaira on Sunday with a cargo of food that will supply the South American nation’s first Iranian supermarket, according to Refinitiv Eikon and Iran’s embassy in Venezuela.Iran supplied 1.5 million barrels of fuel to Venezuela last month amid a collapse of refinery operations and tightening sanctions by the United States that has made it more difficult for Venezuela to obtain fuel on international markets.The Iranian-flagged general cargo ship Golsan, owned by Mosakhar Darya Shipping Co, departed on May 15 from Bandar Abbas. Five tankers left for the Caribbean from the same port in March after loading fuel…

Last year, China replaced the United States as the No. 1 importer of oil from Venezuela, yet another front in the heated rivalry between Washington and Beijing.The United States had imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s state-owned oil company as part of a bid to topple that country’s socialist president, Nicolas Maduro. U.S. refineries stopped buying Venezuelan crude. Caracas’ ally China, long a major customer, suddenly found itself the top purchaser. Through the first six months of 2019, it imported an average of 350,000 barrels per day of crude from Venezuela.But in August, Washington tightened its sanctions on Venezuela, warning that any foreign entity that continued to do business with the South American country’s government could find itself subject to sanctions.

Brazil’s Petroleo Brasileiro SA has told shippers it will not hire any tankers that have visited Venezuela in the past 12 months, the state-controlled oil company said on Friday, signaling adherence to U.S. sanctions on the Latin American nation.The United States this year blacklisted oil tankers and shipping companies over their dealings with Venezuela, seeking to drain oil revenues that sustain the rule of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Washington has said it could add to its sanctions list…

Iran could send two to three cargoes a month in regular gasoline sales to ally Venezuela, sources say, helping offload domestic oversupply but risking retaliation from U.S. President Donald Trump who has sanctions on both nations.Iran has since April sent five tankers totalling about 1.5 million barrels to the leftist government of fuel-starved Venezuela, though the shipments have done little to alleviate hours-long lines at gas stations.The Trump administration, which is seeking both to block Iran's energy trade and bring down Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, has threatened reprisals and warned ports, shipping companies and insurers against facilitating the tankers.But Tehran plans to keep up the shipments…

Venezuela's oil exports have fallen nearly 28% in the first half of June, on course for the lowest level in over 70 years as tanker owners and operators suspend contracts for transporting crude oil, according to documents and data on Tuesday.Shipping firms are avoiding Venezuela after the United States earlier this month blacklisted four vessels and their owners for transporting the country's crude.Several shippers have turned tankers away from Venezuela's waters in the face of increasingly aggressive U.S. efforts to isolate and oust socialist President Nicolas Maduro by throttling the oil revenue that funds his government.State oil firm PDVSA and its partners in joint ventures have exported seven cargoes of crude and fuel so far in June to long-time customers including Italy's Eni…

Three Greece-based shipping firms said they have halted trade with Venezuela after the United States imposed sanctions on vessels under their management, as Washington ramps up commercial heat on Caracas.The U.S. government is seeking to choke Venezuelan oil exports to starve the government of socialist President Nicolas Maduro of its main source of revenue. Existing sanctions have cut Venezuelan exports sharply, but Maduro has held on.Washington may tighten sanctions by adding dozens more tankers to an existing blacklist, sources told Reuters.The U.S. Treasury said on June 2 it had imposed sanctions on four shipping companies for transporting Venezuelan oil.Athens-based Dynacom Tankers Management…