According to company records and shipping data, Venezuela’s state-owned oil firm PDVSA has begun loading tankers with crude and fuel oil and anchoring them in domestic waters, as inventories swell following U.S. seizures of vessels linked to the country.
This month, the U.S. Coast Guard intercepted the Skipper and Centuries tankers in the Caribbean Sea, both fully loaded with Venezuelan crude. The Coast Guard this week was pursuing a third empty vessel that was approaching the OPEC country’s shore.
The Blockade Impact
The actions targeted vessels of a so-called “shadow fleet” of ships carrying sanctioned oil. U.S. President Donald Trump has announced a blockade of all vessels subject to U.S. sanctions. These factors have scared many ship owners and left more than a dozen cargoes stuck in Venezuelan waters waiting to depart.
The emerging backlog is quickly filling the company’s onshore tanks, especially at the Jose terminal, which receives extra heavy oil from the country’s main output region, the Orinoco Belt.
Rising Inventories and Export Challenges
PDVSA began draining part of those inventories to oil tankers over the past weekend, a strategy it has resorted to in past years to avoid cutting oil production.
Since PDVSA’s main joint-venture partner Chevron has not suspended exports, most inventories at Venezuela’s western region are close to normal levels.
Chevron, however, is responsible for only about a quarter of the crude grades produced in the Orinoco Belt. PDVSA typically exports the three other quarters to China, which has been the destination of about 80% of Venezuela’s crude exports this year.
As oil exports had stabilized and risen this year, PDVSA’s onshore oil stocks at Jose had reduced since September, according to figures provided by trade intelligence firm Kpler.
So far in December, they have already reached 12.6 million barrels, pushing up the country’s total oil inventory level to 22 million barrels, the highest since August, Kpler added.
(With inputs from Reuters)
