Vitol, the world’s biggest independent oil trading group, is offering Venezuelan crude to Chinese refiners at a discount that’s three times narrower compared to the illicit sales from Venezuela before the ousting of Nicolas Maduro, anonymous traders with knowledge of the development told Bloomberg on Monday.
Vitol has recently offered cargoes of Venezuela’s flagship Merey heavy sour crude grade to China at a discount of $5 per barrel to ICE Brent, according to Bloomberg’s sources.
This compares with a discount as wide as $15 a barrel to ICE Brent on a delivered basis before the U.S. blitz in Venezuela and the capture of Maduro. Back then, China was the most important buyer of Venezuelan crude in exports that were under sanctions by the U.S. and were carried out by a shadow fleet of tankers.
China is expected to see a plunge in imports of oil from Venezuela in February as the month-long U.S. blockade has prevented many China-bound cargoes from leaving Venezuelan waters.
The deliveries of crude and fuel oil from Venezuela to China are estimated at just 166,000 barrels per day in February, compared to an average of 642,000 bpd in 2025.
Vitol and Trafigura are offering Venezuelan crude to refiners in China and India for March delivery, trade sources told Reuters last week, days after two of the world’s biggest independent oil traders obtained special U.S. licenses to help market Venezuela’s oil.
At the request of the U.S. government, Trafigura and Vitol are providing logistical and marketing services to facilitate the sale of Venezuelan oil, Trafigura said on January 9, following a meeting of oil industry executives with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House.
Vitol and Trafigura have also reportedly contacted PetroChina about potential interest in Venezuela’s Merey crude, which was a staple with the Chinese state oil giant before the U.S. sanctioned Venezuela’s exports during President Trump’s first term in office.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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