Europe is set to receive some of its first shipments of Venezuelan oil in almost a year after traders rolled out offers worldwide to sell cargoes at the behest of the Trump administration.
The ship Poliegos is on its way to pick up Venezuelan oil and deliver it to a port in Italy, according to a shipping report seen by Bloomberg. Energy trader Vitol Group, which together with Trafigura Group was enlisted by the US to sell Venezuelan oil, is listed as owner of the cargo.
Another crude tanker named Folegandros is also scheduled to set sail from Venezuela to the Mediterranean in the coming days, according to people familiar with the matter, adding the vessel would deliver the barrels to Repsol SA’s oil refinery in Cartagena, Spain. A spokesperson for the Madrid-based company declined to comment.
The crude, scheduled to arrive in Europe in February, is part of US President Donald Trump’s plan to shore up the Venezuelan economy after three decades of mismanagement, underinvestment and corruption. The pace and scale at which the nation’s output and exports is restored will be an important detail in an oil market that’s dealing with a large supply excess, with global prices stuck near $60 a barrel.
Vitol declined to comment.
After the Jan. 3 capture of strongman Nicolás Maduro by US forces, Trump officials enlisted the help of Vitol and Trafigura to help sell as much as 50 million barrels of oil, with proceeds earmarked to help rebuild the country’s economy.
The shipments would market the first visible exports of Venezuelan oil to Europe since April, when the Vitol-backed Saras SpA took 1 million barrels of Merey 16 oil to the Sarroch refinery in Italy, according to vessel movements compiled by Bloomberg.
The traders are quickly moving Venezuelan barrels as the US prepares to issue a general license easing sanctions, and allowing more trading companies and refiners to buy directly from state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA. So far, Trafigura and Vitol have taken roughly 12 million barrels of Venezuelan oil in the less than three weeks since Maduro’s capture, about one-fourth of the volumes contracted with the US.
Currently en route to Venezuela, the Poliegos will load 1 million barrels crude by the end of the month, and is set to head toward Augusta in Italy. The port, a hub for the Mediterranean, is sometimes cited as a destination for vessels that ultimately heading somewhere else.
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