A crude tanker chartered by Trafigura left Venezuela’s Jose port for Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP) on Sunday, LSEG data and documents showed, the first cargo headed directly to the US under a 50 million barrel supply deal agreed between Caracas and Washington this month.
This month, trading houses Vitol and Trafigura won the first US licenses to load and export Venezuelan oil as part of the deal. Since then, they ship cargo to storage terminals in the Caribbean and from there sell and sell the oil to refineries around the world.
The Liberian-flagged tanker Gloria Maris, carrying about 1 million barrels of Venezuelan Merey heavy crude, is the first the traders have sent directly from Venezuela to a U.S. port since the trade began, according to documents and data.
A smaller tanker, the Barbados-flagged Volans, also departed Jose on Sunday, carrying about 450,000 barrels of Venezuelan crude to Curacao’s Bullen Bay terminal, LSEG data showed.
Traders have so far delivered between 10 and 11 million barrels of Venezuelan crude under the supply deal, according to shipping data. According to sources and documents, they are also about to start exporting heating oil.
Before Venezuela can reverse production cuts it made during the U.S. blockade of all sanctioned tankers, the country must use up most of the more than 40 million barrels it has accumulated since last month.
