The volume of Venezuelan crude floating at sea has spiked to the highest level in more than three years after the US seized the country’s leader, Nicolas Maduro, and asserted control over its energy resources.
More than 29 million barrels of Venezuelan oil are now on vessels stationary at sea, up from about 20 million barrels earlier this week, according to data from Kpler. Most of the increase has been seen in waters in Asia, where China has long been the largest importer of the South American nation’s output.
“Chinese teapots are already bracing for the possibility that the barrels now in transit will be their last,” said Muyu Xu, a senior crude analyst at Kpler, referring to independent Chinese processors.
The oil market has been rocked this week by the US intervention into OPEC member Venezuela, which sits on the world’s largest proven crude reserves. The Trump administration has said it plans to control future sales of Venezuelan oil and hold the proceeds, with the new arrangement to last “indefinitely,” according to Energy Secretary Chris Wright. It has also maintained a naval blockade on flows, although US-bound cargoes have been allowed.
The upheaval has cast doubt on where the Venezuelan oil that’s now in transit or floating storage will end up. Still, Wright also said Washington would not prevent China from accessing Venezuelan oil, according to comments to Fox News. “We’re not going to cut off China,” he said. “The illicit trade in oil with Iran and Russia, the illegal gun-running stuff, that’s going to be cut off.”
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