(Reuters) – Venezuela this month resumed exports of a key crude grade that had not been shipped since late 2024, diluted crude oil (DCO), with U.S. Chevron sending a 500,000-barrel cargo to the U.S. Gulf Coast, a document from state energy company PDVSA seen on Friday showed.
The grade, produced from a blend of extra heavy crude from the OPEC country’s main oil region, the Orinoco Belt, and imported heavy naphtha, is popular among refiners in countries including the United States and India.
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If exports are sustained in the coming months, they could help drain millions of barrels of inventories. By the end of February, stocks of DCO were at 4.8 million barrels, the highest accumulation of a heavy grade in the Orinoco, according to the document.
PDVSA did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Chevron declined to comment on commercial matters.
Following U.S. licenses granted in January after the U.S. capture of President Nicolas Maduro, trading houses Vitol and Trafigura exported some 27 million barrels of Venezuelan oil through February. However, the lion’s share of shipments have been of the country’s most popular grade, Merey heavy crude.
Chevron, for its part, had focused on exports of upgraded Hamaca crude and heavy Boscan under its U.S. license, the two grades it produces the most, vessel tracking data showed.
Other grades from the Orinoco and elsewhere have remained mostly in storage, which has kept the country’s overall stocks high and the pool of potential buyers limited.
Reporting by Marianna Parraga; Editing by Julia Symmes Cobb and Chizu Nomiyama
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