Mariana Parraga, Reuters
HOUSTON
EnergiesNet.com 12 23 2024
Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA and India’s Reliance Industries (RELI.NS), opens new tab have resumed an oil swap that had been paused due to U.S. sanctions on the South American country, an internal PDVSA document seen on Thursday showed.
Reliance and other Indian refiners had imported Venezuelan oil earlier this year under a broad U.S. license that expired in April. In July, Washington granted Reliance an individual authorization green-lighting the trade.
PDVSA and Reliance did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
Reliance, which operates the world’s biggest refining complex, plans to pay in cash for the balance of the crude purchases after the swaps, a source told Reuters in August, in an arrangement similar to past exchanges.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump told reporters this week his country does not need oil from Venezuela, which currently exports about 240,000 barrels per day (bpd) to the United States, mostly shipped by oil producer Chevron (CVX.N), opens new tab.
Chevron did not provide comment on Trump’s remarks.
Possible changes in the U.S. sanctions regime on Venezuela, which since 2019 works through a combination of executive orders and licenses, could lead to a new interruption of the OPEC country’s heavy oil flows to the U.S., while also halting Venezuela’s imports of refined products from the United States.
If that happens, the Venezuelan barrels currently exported to the U.S. are expected to be redirected to Asian destinations, analysts and experts have said.
Venezuela’s government has said the U.S. sanctions are illegitimate measures that amount to an “economic war” designed to cripple Venezuela. President Nicolas Maduro and his allies have cheered what they say is the country’s resilience despite the measures.
Reporting by Marianna Parraga; Editing by Gary McWilliams and Diane Craft
reutyers.com 12 19 2024
