Venezuela’s oil exports, which had fallen to a minimum amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s announced blockade of all sanctioned tankers going in and out of the country’s waters, are now paralyzed as port captains have not received requests to authorize loaded ships to set sail, four sources close to operations said on Saturday.
The paralysis emerges as the U.S. extracted President Nicolas Maduro and his wife from capital Caracas and announced it will oversee a political transition in the South American country.
President Trump said on Saturday that an “oil embargo” on the country was in full effect.
Several vessels that have recently loaded crude and fuel bound for destinations including the U.S. and Asia have not set sail, while others that had waited to load have left empty, according to monitoring data. No tankers were loading on Saturday at the country’s main oil port of Jose, TankerTrackers.com said.
A total suspension of oil exports, including tankers chartered by state-run PDVSA’s main partner Chevron, could accelerate the country’s need to cut back output at oilfields, since storage tanks and even ships used for floating storage have filled rapidly in recent weeks, according to sources and PDVSA’s documents.
PDVSA and Chevron did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
(Reporting by Marianna Parraga and Reuters Staff; Editing by Julia Symmes-Cobb)