Venezuelan oil exports witnessed a substantial decline of 38% in April, with tanker owners and clients withdrawing several vessels awaiting loading from the country’s waters in anticipation of the reimplementation of US sanctions, according to Reuters, citing shipping data and documents.
Last month, the US Treasury Department announced the non-renewal of a six-month license granted to Venezuela’s oil sector the previous year, setting a deadline until the end of May for companies to conclude pending transactions.
In April, a total of 37 vessels departed from Venezuelan ports, with exports averaging 545,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude and fuel. This figure marks a decrease from the peak of 873,500 bpd shipped in March and the 703,000 bpd exported in the same month a year earlier, as per data from financial firm LSEG, based on tanker movements.
Approximately six supertankers left Venezuela empty in recent weeks after enduring prolonged waiting periods to load crude at ports managed by the state-owned oil company PDVSA. Loading delays and customer concerns regarding the sufficiency of the wind-down period granted by Washington to finalize sales were cited as reasons for these departures, according to data and company documents.
At least two of the tankers that departed without loading had been chartered by the Polish state-controlled refiner Orlen and were anticipated to sail to Asia, as indicated by the data and documents.
The Polish government is currently investigating the loss of approximately $400 million incurred by Orlen’s Switzerland-based trading unit in prepayments for Venezuelan oil cargoes that the company did not receive.
