The seeming incremental lifting by the United States of sanctions which had been imposed on Venezuela’s oil exports tied to political differences with Washington has seemingly arrived at a point where some of the world’s major traders are returning to the source of some of the world’s largest oil reserves. Earlier this week, an article published by Oilprice.com, one of the world’s frequently used energy news sites, underscored Venezuela’s apparent return to the oil trading ‘big league’, announcing that Vitol Group, one of the world’s largest oil traders had recruited a supertanker to load oil from Venezuela.
The vessel, named as the Gustavia S, is reportedly capable of carrying 2 million barrels of oil while the report provided a booking price of US$11 million for a vessel which it said was “en route to the Gulf of Mexico.” Loading of the vessel, according to the report, is set for “later in November or in early December.”
What is being seen in global energy circles as what the oilprice.com report describes as “the return of the top international oil trading houses to Venezuela” comes on the heels of the recent incremental easing of the sanctions on Venezuela. Reports on the easing of sanctions attributes that development to what the oilprice.com report says was a “deal’ between the country’s political opposition and the Maduro administration that is seen as part of the building blocks towards the holding of elections in Venezuela next year.
Venezuela’s current external oil transactions are reportedly proceeding under a “six-month general license” which the oilprice.com article says, is a temporary instrument “authorizing transactions involving the oil and gas sector in Venezuela” and which will be renewed on condition that Venezuela “meets its commitments under the so-called electoral roadmap” that is being monitored by Washington. The oilprfice.com article states that the essentially temporary ‘freeing up’ of Venezuela’s oil exports also covers “the production, lifting, sale, and exportation of oil or gas from Venezuela, and the provision of related goods and services, as well as payment of invoices for goods or services related to oil or gas sector operations in Venezuela.”
The oilprice.com article says that in the light of the lifting of sanctions, “some of the largest independent oil trading houses are already offering Venezuelan cargoes, including to U.S. buyers.” It adds that “commodity giants have also struck deals to buy crude from intermediaries approved by Venezuela’s state-owned oil company PDVSA.” Another report published on November 15, asserts that Venezuela’s ‘re-opening for business’ has seen the Vitol Group, said to be the world’s largest independent oil trader, hire a supertanker, to load oil from Venezuela. The license reportedly remains valid until April 18, next year.
