Venezuela’s monthly oil exports surpassed 1 million barrels per day in March for the first time since September, with sales to refiners in India and shipments by trading houses to the Caribbean for storage pushing up volumes, according to ship-tracking data.
The OPEC country’s oil sales have been rising since Caracas and Washington in January agreed to a flagship pact to supply Venezuelan crude and fuel to the U.S. and other destinations under U.S. oversight.
The agreement came shortly after the U.S. captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and gave support to the government of interim President Delcy Rodriguez. It has allowed trading houses Vitol and Trafigura to handle most of the sales. U.S. major Chevron also has increased exports.
In March, a total of 60 vessels departed from Venezuela carrying 1.09 million bpd of crude and fuel, and some 360,000 metric tons of petrochemicals and oil byproducts.
In February, Venezuela’s exports averaged 737,000 bpd of oil and fuel, while sales of petrochemicals and byproducts were 463,000 tons, the data showed.
The South American nation’s increasing crude output has been the main driver of more exports, while Vitol, Trafigura and Chevron continue working to drain inventories accumulated during a severe U.S. oil blockade between December and January.
The trading firms’ sales rose to some 635,000 bpd, while Chevron’s exports of Venezuelan crude increased to 267,000 bpd in March from 209,000 bpd the previous month.
The arrival of larger tankers in Venezuelan waters in March, mainly to load crude bound for India, allowed faster activity at the country’s main oil terminal of Jose, according to documents from state energy company PDVSA.
(Reporting by Marianna Parraga and Mircely Guanipa; Editing by Julia Symmes Cobb and David Gregorio)