A tanker chartered by Chevron has docked at a Venezuelan port, set to be loaded with the first Venezuelan crude to be supplied to U.S. refiners after President Trump reinstated Chevron’s sanction exemption for operating in the country.
The Bahamas-flagged Canopus Voyager reached Venezuelan waters last week, Reuters reported, citing LSEG data, and docked at the Jose port, which featured PDVSA’s oil export terminal. As of Tuesday, Reuters noted, at least five other tankers that Chevron had previously used to ship Venezuelan crude were entering Venezuelan water or en route there.
President Trump revoked Chevron’s license to operate in Venezuela in March this year, reversing a concession made by the Biden administration despite its continued pressure on the Venezuelan government through sanctions targeting the country’s crude oil industry. Chevron was given until the end of May to wind down its business in the country.
As soon as this happened, Venezuelan oil exports slumped by 20% as PDVSA responded to Trump’s license revocation for Chevron with a cancellation of its own license for the company to trade in Venezuelan crude.
Last month, however, the U.S. president changed his mind and Chevron was allowed to resume work in Venezuela, but on one condition: that no money from the sale of Venezuelan crude went to the Venezuelan government. Meanwhile, exports from Venezuela remained subdued at a little over 700,000 barrels daily, with the oil industry waiting for the return of Chevron.
The U.S. was importing Venezuelan crude at a peak rate of some 300,000 barrels daily last year and early this year, Kpler reported recently, adding that the average import rate was about the same as Chevron’s portion of joint output in the country for last year. That output in its total stood at some 240,000 barrels daily as of last year.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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