Vitol Hires Ship to Load Venezuela Crude for China after U.S. Lifts Sanctions

Vitol, the world's largest independent oil trader, has provisionally chartered a supertanker to load oil from Venezuela for China, according to two shipbrokers and data from shiptracking firms Kpler and Vortexa.

The Very Large Crude Carrier Gustavia S., chartered for $11 million, is scheduled to load its cargo between Nov. 27 and Dec. 2, according to the sources.

The company declined to comment on the issue.

Vitol is among major European trading houses seeking to resume trade in Venezuelan oil after Washington in mid-October issued a general licence lifting, through April, sanctions on the country's oil production and exports.

The U.S. has said it wants to see progress towards a transparent presidential election in Venezuela as well as a release of political prisoners by Nov. 30 or it could reimpose the sanctions.

(Reuters - Reporting by Muyu Xu in Singapore and Arathy Somasekhar in Houston; writing by Florence Tan; editing by Jason Neely)