Oil traders and shipping companies are scrambling to expand tanker operations to move Venezuelan crude as Washington prepares to take delivery of sanctioned oil following the ouster of President Nicolás Maduro, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
Trading houses and oil majors including Chevron, Vitol, and Trafigura are competing for U.S. government-backed export deals after President Donald Trump said Venezuela could hand over up to 50 million barrels of crude to the United States. Trafigura told U.S. officials last week that its first vessel could load within days, sources said.
The logistical challenges are significant. Years of sanctions have left Venezuela storing crude in aging, poorly maintained tankers and nearly full onshore tanks. Many of the vessels holding the oil are under sanctions and cannot be directly accessed by other ships due to insurance and liability restrictions, even with U.S. licenses in place. Onshore storage facilities are also in disrepair, raising safety and operational risks.
Shipping firms, including Maersk Tankers and American Eagle Tankers, are examining ways to expand ship-to-ship transfer operations off Venezuela, sources said. One option under consideration is replicating logistics previously used in Amuay Bay, involving transfers between storage vessels, piers, and export tankers. However, these operations face constraints, including limited availability of smaller feeder ships, competition for loading slots, and poorly maintained port equipment.
Transfers through nearby waters such as Aruba and Curaçao remain possible but are costlier than direct loadings, sources noted.
AET, which already supports Chevron’s Venezuelan crude exports, has been approached by potential clients seeking to expand transfer capacity, according to people familiar with the discussions. Maersk Tankers, AET, and Chevron did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
While exports could eventually approach the roughly 500,000 barrels per day Venezuela shipped to the U.S. before sanctions, sources cautioned that draining accumulated inventories could take three to four months and will depend on resolving bottlenecks at the Jose terminal, where capacity is limited.
To support exports, oil companies are also sourcing naphtha from the United States to blend with Venezuela’s heavy crude, reducing viscosity and making the oil transportable and refinery-ready.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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