Oil Tanker Carrying Venezuelan Crude Heads Straight To U.S. In First Shipment Under New 50-Million-Barrel Oil Supply Deal

A tanker carrying Venezuelan heavy crude has departed directly for the United States, marking the first such shipment under a new 50-million-barrel oil supply agreement between Venezuela and the US.

The Liberia-flagged tanker Gloria Maris, chartered by trading firm Trafigura, left Venezuela’s Jose port on Sunday carrying around one million barrels of Merey heavy crude.

Vessel tracking data showed that the cargo is bound for the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP).

This is the first cargo shipped directly from Venezuela to a US port since the agreement was signed earlier this month.

Previous shipments under the deal were first sent to storage terminals in the Caribbean before being marketed and sold to refiners globally.

The shipments follow the granting of US licences to Vitol and Trafigura, allowing them to load and export Venezuelan oil under the agreement.

Shipping data showed that the two companies have already shipped between 10 million and 11 million barrels of Venezuelan crude as part of the deal and are preparing to begin exporting fuel oil as well.

Data also showed that a second vessel, the Barbados-flagged tanker Volans, departed from Jose on Sunday carrying about 450,000 barrels of Venezuelan crude to the Bullen Bay terminal in Curaçao.

Per industry data, Venezuela has accumulated more than 40 million barrels of oil in storage since last month.

The country will need to clear most of these volumes before it can reverse the production cuts imposed during the US blockade of sanctioned tankers.

Reference: Reuters