Three sources said that Venezuela's oil company has started reopening wells it and its joint-venture partners had?shut down amid a U.S. strict embargo. Crude exports have resumed with two shipments departing on Monday.

Since December, the OPEC countries' oil exports have?been almost at a standstill, with only U.S. -Chevron exporting from their joint ventures, under a U.S. approval,?leaving million of barrels in tanks and vessels onshore.

Independent figures show that the country's crude?output dropped to 880,000 barrels a day (bpd) in late November from 1.16 million. The Orinoco Belt region saw a dramatic drop to 410,000 bpd, down from 675,000 in late November.

Two supertankers left Venezuelan waters late Monday with 1.8 million barrels of crude oil each. This could 'be the first shipment of a 50 million-barrel deal between Caracas & Washington, freeing up exports.

LSEG ship 'tracking data' showed that the vessels headed north on Tuesday from Venezuela to the Caribbean where traders, producers, and refineries rent storage tanks.

(source: Reuters)