Deisy Buitrago News

Venezuela's loss of a key U.S. license that allowed it to freely export and increase investment in its oil sector will hit the volume and quality of its crude and fuel sales while prompting a flurry of requests for individual U.S deal authorizations.U.S. officials had warned that absent progress by President Nicolas Maduro on implementing an electoral roadmap agreed last year, the U.S. would not renew license 44, which since October had eased oil sanctions in place for the last five years.On Wednesday…

The Biden administration said it would not renew a license set to expire early on Thursday that had broadly eased Venezuela oil sanctions, moving to reimpose punitive measures in response to President Nicolas Maduro’s failure to meet his election commitments.Just hours before the deadline, the U.S. Treasury Department announced on its website that it had issued a replacement license giving companies 45 days to “wind down” their business and transactions in the OPEC country's oil…

Judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Thursday ruled they had jurisdiction over a long-running border dispute between Guyana and Venezuela, which could determine which country has rights to territory rich in oil and gas.Guyana in 2018 asked the ICJ, also known as the World Court, to confirm that the border was laid down in an 1899 arbitration between Venezuela and the then-colony of British Guiana. Venezuela, while boycotting much of the procedure, tried to stop the case from moving forward by arguing the United Kingdom should be involved as Guyana was a British colony in 1899…

Valero Energy Corp, the second-largest U.S. oil refiner, is seeking Washington's permission to import Venezuelan crude, according to four people close to the matter, hoping for a repeat of the approval granted to Chevron Corp in November after a four-year ban.President Joe Biden's administration has eased some U.S. sanctions on the OPEC-member nation in an effort to encourage a political dialogue with the country's opposition. That has led to further pressure from U.S., European and Asian energy firms…

A shipping channel snafu is slowing Chevron Corp’s efforts to load tankers at one of its four Venezuelan joint ventures and bring heavy crude to the United States, three people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.Washington in November authorized the last major U.S. firm still operating in Venezuela to restore lost output and begin exporting oil as a way to encourage talks between Nicolas Maduro’s government and the country’s political opposition.But a plan to move heavy…

Venezuela's top court has ruled to give the U.S. government 60 days to request the extradition of fugitive Malaysian businessman Leonard Glenn Francis, also known by his alias "Fat Leonard," who is implicated in a U.S. Navy bribery case.The supreme court ruling was issued last week but only made public on Wednesday by a reporter with official media.Francis was arrested on Sept. 21 at Caracas' main airport as he prepared to leave for Russia. The U.S. government had previously issued…

A fire erupted on Saturday at an oil terminal in Venezuela when a hose used for supplying gasoline to a tanker broke lose, the country's oil minister Tareck El Aissami said.The fire, which occurred early on Saturday at one of Guaraguao terminal's berths, located on Venezuela's eastern coast, was extinguished shortly after, but also affected Panama-flagged oil vessel Larko and interrupted the terminal's operations, according to shipping sources.No injuries have been reported.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Tuesday that Venezuela would support Cuba in the reconstruction of its only supertanker port in Matanzas, which was partially destroyed by a fire after lightning struck one of the its crude tanks.Cuba has long relied on the 2.4 million-barrel Matanzas terminal, about 130 km from Havana, for most imports and storage of crude and heavy fuel oil.Maduro directed Venezuela's oil minister and the president of state-run PDVSA to get in touch with the corresponding Cuban authorities "to begin the design of the reconstruction of the supertanker yard," he said

A floating facility off the Venezuelan coast has finished offloading crude stored in it for the past two years due to U.S. sanctions, paving the way for output to resume in an oilfield, an official of the facility's operator said on Thursday.Operations to remove crude from the Nabarima floating storage and offloading facility (FSO), anchored in the eastern Gulf of Paria near the maritime border with Trinidad and Tobago, started in December. The crude had been stored there since…

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…

Venezuela's state-run oil company PDVSA has begun marketing about 570,000 barrels of Corocoro medium crude recently offloaded from a floating facility that was listing last year, two sources with knowledge of the offer said on Friday.Crude onboard the Floating Storage and Offloading facility (FSO) Nabarima, operated by a joint venture between PDVSA and Italy's Eni, started to be transferred to a tanker late last year amid environmental concerns from neighboring countries over a potential spill.About 1.3 million barrels of oil had remained stored at the FSO since early 2019…

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…

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.

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…

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…

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.

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…

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…

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.

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…

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…

Two Iranian tankers that delivered fuel to Venezuela as part of a five-vessel flotilla have begun to sail back, according to Refinitiv Eikon, as the government of the South American nation prepares stations to begin charging for the gasoline.The supply is meant to ease fuel shortages that have plagued the country. After three months of fuel rationing, Venezuelans began lining up on Saturday to wait for the Iranian gasoline to be sold at stations from Monday under a new system combining subsidies and internationally-indexed prices.The model will put an end to over two decades of Venezuelans filling up their tanks for next to nothing.The two first Iranian tankers that discharged fuel last week departed over the weekend from state-run PDVSA's ports.

The Venezuelan navy said it escorted a fourth tanker bringing Iranian fuel through its waters on Thursday, while the United States called the shipments to the gasoline-starved country a distraction from problems facing President Nicolas Maduro.The oil industries of Iran and Venezuela are both under U.S. sanctions. Iran is providing its fellow OPEC member up to 1.53 million barrels of gasoline and refining components to help ease an acute shortage, the result of the near-complete breakdown in its refining network as well as the sanctions.Washington has said it is weighing a response to the shipments.Venezuela's military has escorted each tanker through its exclusive economic zone.