Latest news with #Blend22
Reuters
28-04-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Tankers queue near old Venezuela oil port ahead of US license expiry, data shows
Summary Companies PDVSA launches Blend 22 exports ahead of May 27 license expiry New crude blend being shipped from Western La Salina port Vitol-chartered vessel's hull being cleaned after loading at La Salina Loading limited to 350,000 bbl due to lack of dredging Five Chevron-chartered ships remain idled waiting near Aruba April 28 (Reuters) - Tankers are lining up near an old oil port at Venezuela's Western region to load crude cargoes and depart from the South American country before a May 27 deadline set by the U.S. to wind down operations and exports, according to documents and data. U.S.-sanctioned Venezuela is set to inaugurate this month exports of a new crude grade, Blend 22, to lure customers even after the expiration of licenses Washington had granted to companies in the U.S., India and Europe to carry Venezuelan oil exports. Because the grade is a blend of crudes produced by state-owned oil company PDVSA at its Western fields, exports must be shipped from La Salina, an aging and deteriorated terminal on the shores of Lake Maracaibo where tankers often get their hulls stained when docking due to oil leaking from submarine pipelines. Vessels also cannot load more than 350,000 barrels of crude in that area because of Lake Maracaibo's lack of dredging. Most PDVSA customers typically avoid La Salina, but as the deadline approaches for buyers taking Venezuelan oil cargoes under U.S. licenses, some have taken the risk of loading there, which has begun triggering delays and a bottleneck of tankers waiting at Maracaibo's anchorage, the documents and ship monitoring data showed. A vessel chartered by trading house Vitol to load a 250,000-barrel cargo of Blend 22 allocated by PDVSA to France's Maurel & Prom ( opens new tab is having its hull cleaned this week after it completed loading last week, according to one of the documents. The companies are scheduled to take a similar cargo after that as part of an oil swap that involves heavy naphtha for Venezuela, and three more could follow pending an agreement with PDVSA, according to a source close to the talks. The neighboring Bajo Grande terminal, which was used by Chevron (CVX.N), opens new tab to ship crude from one of its joint ventures before PDVSA this month canceled the cargoes it had allocated to the U.S. firm, is now being used by the state company to load Boscan heavy crude for floating storage, the documents showed. Of about a dozen vessels Chevron had near Venezuelan ports earlier this month before the cargo cancellations, five remain close to Aruba waiting for directions, while the others were sent to pick up cargoes elsewhere, according to LSEG ship data. President Nicolas Maduro's government has criticized Washington's hardening of sanctions on the country and said the measures amount to an "economic war."
Reuters
23-04-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Venezuela launches Blend 22 crude exports ahead of US licenses expiry
April 23 (Reuters) - Venezuela will begin exporting a new medium crude blend this month as part of a marketing strategy to avoid a collapse of its revenue-generating oil sales once licenses on the U.S.-sanctioned OPEC member expire next month, trading documents showed. Washington in March revoked a handful of licenses it had granted in recent years for partners and customers of state company PDVSA ( to take cargoes of Venezuelan crude bound for Spain, Italy, India and the U.S., including to Chevron (CVX.N), opens new tab, Repsol ( opens new tab, Eni ( opens new tab, Maurel & Prom ( opens new tab and Reliance Industries ( opens new tab. The U.S. Treasury Department gave the companies until May 27 to wind down operations in Venezuela and complete shipments. Since the announcement, PDVSA has been doing preparations to reorganize oil production, upgrading, blending and exports, especially at projects operated by the joint ventures hit by the license cancellations. One of the measures is the production and sale of "Blend 22," a new crude grade coming from PDVSA's Western fields. PDVSA has in recent months increased output and storage of Blend 22 aiming to lure customers in Europe and Asia that have an appetite for medium sour grades to refine. The Venezuelan company is actively marketing the crude so once the licenses expire, it can send it to other destinations, including China, sources said. The first two export cargoes of Blend 22 were allocated to France's Maurel & Prom from La Salina port in Western Zulia state, as part of a swap for heavy naphtha delivered to PDVSA this month that was authorized since last year by a U.S. license, according to documents seen by Reuters. The vessels that will carry the crude, which arrived in Venezuelan waters earlier this month, were chartered by trading house Vitol ( The first tanker is scheduled to carry some 250,000 barrels, one of the documents showed. Paris-based M&P, which is majority-owned by the Indonesian government, in late March said the license had been revoked by the U.S. Treasury with a May 27 deadline for completing transactions. PDVSA and M&P did not reply to requests for comment. Vitol could not immediately be reached for comment. It was not immediately clear which customers would take the new crude grade after the French firm. PDVSA also is trying to refine more crude domestically to avoid a fuel crisis as the ones that have prompted day-long lines at stations in previous years of hardening U.S. sanctions. Venezuela's exports of crude and fuel increased about 11% to some 770,000 barrels per day (bpd) last year, the highest average since 2019 when energy sanctions were first imposed by Washington. However, U.S. President Donald Trump's harder stance on the oil producer, which also includes the imposition of tariffs on Venezuela's oil buyers, is expected to stop the rise in exports if the countries cannot find solutions to present issues, including migration and democracy. Venezuela has declared a state of economic emergency in response to U.S. sanctions and tariffs. Officials have rejected the sanctions, saying they amount to an "economic war."
