Venezuela saw its oil exports slump by nearly 20% in April from March to the lowest level in nine months, after state-owned oil firm PDVSA canceled cargoes for Chevron, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing shipping documents and tanker-tracking data.
Last month, the country holding the world’s largest crude oil reserves exported just 700,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude and fuels, according to the data.
A total of 32 vessels departed from Venezuela’s ports in April, shipping an average of 698,767 bpd of crude and fuel, as well as 357,000 metric tons of oil byproducts and petrochemicals, per LSEG vessel monitoring data cited by Reuters.
PDVSA revoked in early April authorizations to U.S. supermajor Chevron to load and export crude from Venezuela, following the Trump Administration’s increased sanctions on Venezuelan oil exports and tariffs on its oil buyers.
The Trump Administration has already revoked Chevron’s license to operate in Venezuela and export oil from its oilfields, with May 27 the deadline for Chevron to wind down its operations in the South American country.
U.S. President Donald Trump has also announced that any country that buys oil or gas from Venezuela will pay a 25% secondary tariff on trades with the United States.
The cancellations of the authorizations to Chevron by PDVSA were the first impact the U.S. supermajor saw from the U.S.-Venezuela standoff because the company has a license until May 27, allowing it to load crude in April.
But the withdrawn authorizations cut the May 27 deadline, and Venezuela’s oil exports plunged in April.
Further declines in Venezuela’s oil shipments are expected in May and going forward, as the U.S. Treasury has revoked a license for French oil firm Maurel & Prom to operate in Venezuela and is no longer allowing firms, including Eni and Repsol, to receive oil from PDVSA in lieu of payments.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com