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Venezuelan crude export ceiling leaves tankers waiting up to 30 days
The de facto cap is about 1.25 million barrels per day, and disruptions at key loading facilities have limited exports despite higher production and inventories.
Venezuela has more buyers for its crude, but aging port infrastructure and operational problems are slowing shipments, leaving tankers to wait as long as 30 days to load, according to Reuters.
The bottleneck is creating a de facto export ceiling of around 1.25 million barrels per day, with PDVSA and partners unable to raise exports above that level in recent months despite rising production, inventory drawdowns and strong demand for Venezuelan heavy crude.
The loading delays are tied to issues at export terminals, including equipment failures, power outages and crude quality problems. In mid-August at Guaraguao, only two of seven docks were fully operational, and some berth space was occupied by old sanctioned tankers.
The limits are also awkward for Washington, which has been seeking to revive Venezuelan production and exports after the removal of Nicolas Maduro in January. More than 500,000 bpd of Venezuelan crude was already headed to U.S. refineries, and traders Vitol and Trafigura exported more than 140 million barrels of Venezuelan crude and fuel since January under an agreement with Washington.
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