Marine Link
Thursday, March 28, 2024
SUBSCRIBE

Petroleos De Venezuela News

06 Jan 2023

Venezuela's Oil Exports Fall in Spite of Iranian Assist

Copyright zaschnaus/AdobeStock

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.

02 Mar 2022

Distressed Venezuelan Supertanker Discharging Oil Cargo in Asia - Sources

A U.S.-sanctioned Venezuela-owned supertanker that had mechanical problems since January is transferring its 2-million-barrel cargo of heavy crude to other vessels in Asia, according to three people familiar with the matter.The very large crude carrier (VLCC) Maximo Gorki left Venezuela in November amid an export push designed to generate funds for cash-strapped state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), which has been under U.S. trading sanctions since 2019.Aging infrastructure problems, including a lack of oil storage and vessels, frequent refinery outages and export port congestion, are undermining PDVSA's increased oil production, impeding efforts to boost revenue, according to company documents and sources.

12 Jul 2021

US Okays LPG Exports to Venezuela

© bong / Adobe Stock

The U.S. government on Monday authorized shipments to Venezuela of liquefied petroleum gas, mainly used in the OPEC nation as cooking fuel and currently in short supply, causing people to burn large amounts of wood.The U.S. Treasury Department authorized through July 8, 2022, some exports and re-exports of the gas, known as LPG, to Venezuela that had not been permitted by executive orders in 2018 and 2019 during the Trump administration.The Office of Foreign Assets Control, part of the Treasury Department…

23 Feb 2021

Perfect Trips: Venezuela Ships Jet Fuel to Iran in Exchange for Gasoline

Venezuela is shipping jet fuel to Iran in return for vital gasoline imports for the South American nation as part of a swap deal agreed by the two state-run oil firms, three people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.Iran has ramped up assistance to Venezuela since last year as the United States tightened sanctions on both countries, hitting oil exports by state-run firms Petroleos de Venezuela and National Iranian oil Company (NIOC).Iran has sent flotillas of state-operated tankers carrying gasoline and feedstock for motor fuel to Venezuela, as well as equipment and spare parts to help the once-prosperous OPEC nation restart its…

29 Dec 2020

UAE Emerges as Hub for Companies Helping Venezuela Avoid US Oil Sanctions

In June, the United States imposed sanctions on half a dozen oil tankers managed by established shipping firms. It was a major escalation of American attempts to choke off Venezuela’s oil trade.Within weeks, a little-known company based in the United Arab Emirates took over management of several tankers that had been shipping Venezuelan oil. The vessels got new names. And then they resumed transporting Venezuelan crude.The company, Muhit Maritime FZE, is one of three UAE-based entities identified by Reuters that have shipped Venezuelan crude and fuel during the second half of this year. Their role emerges from an examination of internal shipping documents from Venezuela’s state oil company as well as third-party shipping and vessel tracking data.

16 Dec 2020

Venezuela: PDVSA Starts Oil Transfer from Troubled Offshore Facility to Barge

The FSO Nabarima listing in the Gulf of Paria on October 16 (Photo: Fishermen and Friends of the Sea)

Venezuelan state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela has begun transferring crude off of an offshore oil facility where governments in two neighboring countries have voiced concerns about a potential spill, two people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.The company this week began the first of several transfers from the Nabarima floating storage and offloading facility (FSO), anchored in the Corocoro oilfield off Venezuela's eastern coast, onto the Inmaculada barge, said the people…

14 Dec 2020

Iran Uses Disguised Tanker to Export Venezuelan Oil

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…

27 Nov 2020

Report: Venezuela Resumes Oil Shipments to China Despite U.S. Sanctions

Venezuela has resumed direct shipments of oil to China after U.S. sanctions sent the trade underground for more than a year, according to Refinitiv Eikon vessel-tracking data and internal documents from state company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA).Chinese state companies China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) and PetroChina - long among PDVSA's top customers - stopped loading crude and fuel at Venezuelan ports in August 2019 after Washington extended its sanctions on PDVSA to include any companies trading with the Venezuelan state firm.The imposition of the sanctions was part of a push by the Trump administration to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro…

11 Nov 2020

Slew of Tankers Sail Toward Venezuela, Suggesting Oil Export Rebound

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.

10 Nov 2020

Phantom Buyers in Russia, Advice from Iran Help Venezuela Skirt Sanctions

On Aug. 21, a tanker called the Otoman docked at the Jose oil terminal on Venezuela’s coast in the Caribbean to load 1.82 million barrels of heavy crude, according to the state oil company’s internal documents.Yet no tanker with that name is registered in major global shipping databases.Muddying the situation further, the unique identifier for the Otoman listed in the documents - a number used by the International Maritime Organization to identify ships - was assigned to another tanker called the Rubyni, according to the databases.The Rubyni was broken up two years ago, they record. Satellite images provided by TankerTrackers.com, an independent vessel tracking service…

05 Nov 2020

Fire-stricken Venezuelan Oil Tanker Undergoes Repairs in Cuba

An oil tanker owned by Venezuelan state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela's maritime division is undergoing repairs in Cuba after suffering a fire while discharging last week, four people familiar with the matter said this week.The Aframax-sized vessel Teseo had set sail from Venezuela's Cardon port with about 500,000 barrels of fuel oil for power generation on October 20, destined for Cuba's Felton port, according to an internal PDVSA document and Refinitiv Eikon ship tracking data.The fire started in the Panama-flagged tanker's engine room and was attributable to lack of proper maintenance by cash-strapped PDVSA, two of the people said.

03 Nov 2020

U.S. Tells Eni Repairs to Venezuela Floating Oil Facility Not Barred by Sanctions

The FSO Nabarima listing in the Gulf of Paria on October 16 (Photo: Fishermen and Friends of the Sea)

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…

27 Oct 2020

US Issues Fresh Sanctions Targeting Iran's Oil Sector

© Vladimir / Adobe Stock

The United States on Monday imposed fresh Iran-related sanctions targeting the Islamic Republic's oil sector, including the Iranian Ministry of Petroleum, in Washington's latest move to increase pressure on Tehran.The U.S. Treasury Department in a statement said it was slapping sanctions on key actors in Iran's oil sector for supporting the Quds Force, the elite foreign paramilitary and espionage arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps."The regime in Iran uses the petroleum sector to fund the destabilizing activities of the IRGC-QF…

27 Oct 2020

FSO Nabarima Is 'Upright' but Crude Transfer Could Be Risky

The FSO Nabarima listing in the Gulf of Paria on October 16 (Photo: Fishermen and Friends of the Sea)

A Venezuelan floating oil facility that had been listing in recent weeks is upright and shows no sign of sinking, but plans to offload crude from the vessel posed some risks, the energy minister of neighboring Trinidad and Tobago said on Thursday.A team of experts from Trinidad inspected the Nabarima facility on Tuesday and found there was “absolutely no tilt” and that the vessel was “totally horizontal,” Energy Minister Franklyn Khan told reporters.“There is no imminent risk of tilting or sinking…

21 Oct 2020

Tanker Approaches Listing FSO Nabarima to Load Crude

The FSO Nabarima listing in the Gulf of Paria on October 16 (Photo: Fishermen and Friends of the Sea)

An oil tanker operated by Venezuelan state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela on Tuesday approached a floating oil facility where it is expected to receive crude via transfer at sea amid environmental concerns, Refinitiv Eikon data showed.Environmental groups have in the past two weeks expressed concern about a potential spill of the 1.3 million barrels of crude aboard the Nabarima oil facility - part of the Petrosucre joint venture between PDVSA and Italy's Eni SpA - after images…

20 Oct 2020

PDVSA Plans to Offload Oil from Tilting FSO Offshore Venezuela

The FSO Nabarima listing in the Gulf of Paria on October 16 (Photo: Fishermen and Friends of the Sea)

Venezuelan state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) plans to offload crude from the Nabarima floating oil facility via ship-to-ship (STS) transfer amid environmental concerns, two people familiar with the matter said on Monday.The Nabarima, part of PDVSA’s Petrosucre joint venture with Italy’s Eni SpA in the Paria Gulf off Venezuela’s eastern coast, is laden with 1.3 million barrels of crude.Images last week showed it tilting on its side, raising worries about a possible oil spill.

12 Oct 2020

Iranian VLCC Leaves Venezuela Loaded with Crude

An Iranian-flagged oil tanker left Venezuela on Friday for Iran's Kharg Island, Refinitiv Eikon data showed, after the vessel loaded 1.9 million barrels of heavy crude at the South American country's Jose oil terminal.The shipment marks the latest example of cooperation between the two OPEC nations this year as they step up commercial ties to try to rescue their respective oil industries, both of which are under intense pressure from U.S. sanctions.The very-large crude carrier (VLCC), registered in shipping databases under the name Horse, discharged 2.1 million barrels of Iranian condensate to be used as diluent for Venezuela's extra-heavy oil production in September.It then loaded Merey heavy crude…

04 Oct 2020

Third Iranian Tanker Docks at Venezuelan Port

The final tanker in a flotilla of three Iranian fuel tankers docked at eastern Venezuela's Guaraguao port on Sunday, according to Refinitiv Eikon data and a person familiar with the matter, as President Nicolas Maduro promised to normalize fuel supply in the gasoline-starved country.The three tankers, which began arriving last week, brought some 820,000 barrels of fuel to the South American country, where severe shortages of gasoline—as well as unreliable power, water and cooking gas supplies—have led to a wave of protests in the neglected interior in recent weeks.The shortages come as state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela's once-formidable 1.3 million barrel per day (bpd) refining network has all but collapsed…

23 Sep 2020

A Killing at Sea Implicates the Armed Forces in Lawless Venezuela

Around midnight on February 23, Eulalio Bravo, a marine electrician, was dozing in his rack aboard the San Ramon, an oil tanker anchored off the coast of Venezuela.Suddenly, he heard footsteps pounding along the passageway outside. His captain, Jaime Herrera, cried for help."Be still!" an unfamiliar voice ordered.A gun fired.By the time Bravo and eight other shipmates emerged to see what had happened, the captain lay dead, a gunshot in the back of his head. Herrera's stateroom had been pillaged, drawers flung open, his bunk overturned. The killers were gone, as were thousands of dollars the captain kept under lock and key, according to crew members interviewed by Reuters.The murder…

04 Sep 2020

PDVSA Says Idled Nabarima FSO in 'Satisfactory' Condition

An idled oil storage facility off Venezuela's eastern coast is in "satisfactory" condition, an official with state company Petroleos de Venezuela said, after a series of incidents in recent months raised concerns about environmental hazards.About 1.3 million barrels of Corocoro crude have been stuck for over a year aboard the Nabarima FSO (floating storage and offloading facility), part of the Petrosucre joint venture between PDVSA, as the company is known, and Italy's Eni SpA, as U.S. sanctions have complicated the nation's exports.With no operating crew on board, in July the vessel presented an 8% incline that created the risk of a spill, and in late August a sea water leak led to flooding in the engine room.

11 Aug 2020

How Venezuela Lost Three Supertankers to Its Chinese Partner

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.

03 Aug 2020

Ship Believed to Have Spilled Oil off Venezuela

© Alexey Zakirov / Adobe Stock

An oil slick washed up over the weekend on the coastline of Venezuela's western Falcon state, known for pristine beaches and nature preserves, two opposition lawmakers said on Monday, though there was no official comment on the spill's provenance.Maria Hernandez, who chairs the opposition-held National Assembly's environmental committee, said she was concerned about the effect of pollution on marine life as well as water supplies onshore.A satellite image posted on Twitter by…

12 Jun 2020

How China Got Venezuelan Oil Despite US Sanctions

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.