Venezuela’s oil exports rose 14% to 1.23 million barrels per day in April, the highest in more than seven years, fueled by more sales to the United States, India and Europe, shipping data and documents from state company PDVSA showed on Friday.
The South American country has been draining oil inventories and recovering crude output in recent months following the U.S. capture of President Nicolas Maduro in January, which led to a flagship supply pact between the governments of U.S. President Donald Trump and Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez.
The agreement, coupled with U.S. licenses easing sanctions on the country, has allowed PDVSA’s joint-venture partners and trading houses including Vitol and Trafigura to receive cargoes from the state firm for sales to refiners in the U.S., Europe and Asia.
In April, a total of 66 vessels departed from Venezuelan waters, compared with 61 ships that carried 1.08 million bpd of crude and refined products in March, according to the data, based on tanker movements.
The April average is the highest monthly volume since late 2018, before U.S. sanctions were imposed on Venezuela’s energy industry.
(Reporting by Marianna Parraga and Mircely Guanipa. Editing by Nathan Crooks and Mark Potter)