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Traders lift Venezuelan Merey crude oil, refiners struggle stateside
Two Venezuelan Merey 16 crude oil cargoes sail for Italy and Rotterdam as traders expand liftings, while Reuters reports Gulf Coast refiners are resisting the higher-priced barrels
Venezuelan crude oil flow patterns shifted at the start of February as traders lifted cargoes for European discharge, while US Gulf Coast refiners struggled to absorb a rapid rise in imports, according to vessel tracking and Reuters’ reporting.
Venezuela opened February loadings with two Venezuela-origin cargoes of Merey 16 grade crude oil at the José terminal, sending volumes into Mediterranean and northwest European markets, according to Wood Mackenzie’s vesseltracker.com service.
It reported that the tankers Poliegos and Folegandro loaded at the terminal, taking on nearly 2M barrels of heavy crude between them.
2017-built, 157,500-dwt Suezmax tanker Poliegos, managed by Okeanis Eco Tankers, loaded roughly 900,000 barrels at the East Berth before departing for an undeclared destination in Italy.
2018-built, 157,100-dwt Suezmax tanker Folegandro, also managed by Okeanis Eco Tankers, lifted more than 1M barrels from the West Berth and was scheduled to discharge in Rotterdam later in February, the same report said.
The vessel-tracking report described the voyages as among the first non-US-bound shipments following Nicolás Maduro’s capture by US military forces in early January, and said Venezuelan loadings since then have been dominated by US-bound flows, with traders taking a larger role in marketing and moving barrels into global outlets.
That trading-led redistribution has run into early constraints in the US, Reuters reported.
Oil refiners on the US Gulf Coast struggled to absorb a rapid rise in Venezuelan crude shipments after what Reuters described as a flagship US$2Bn supply deal between Caracas and Washington, pressuring prices and leaving some volumes unsold, according to traders and shipping data cited by Reuters.
Reuters reported that trading houses Vitol and Trafigura were granted US licences to market and sell millions of barrels of Venezuelan oil following the US operation and a subsequent supply agreement with interim President Delcy Rodriguez.
Reuters said the trading houses, which joined Chevron in holding approval to export Venezuelan oil, struck early deals to sell some cargoes to refiners in the US and Europe, but later found it harder to secure enough buyers among Gulf Coast refiners as exports rose.
One trader told Reuters, “We’re all facing this issue where there’s more to place and not enough takers,” citing reluctance from US refiners to buy Venezuelan crude.
Reuters reported some refiners complained that prices, while falling, remain high compared with competing Canadian heavy grades.
Venezuelan heavy cargoes for Gulf Coast delivery were being offered at about US$9.50 per barrel below Brent, compared with discounts of between US$6.00 and US$7.50 per barrel in mid-January, Reuters said, adding that Canadian WCS for delivery to the Gulf Coast traded at a discount of about US$10.25 per barrel under Brent futures.
On volumes, Reuters said Venezuelan oil exports to the US almost tripled in January to 284,000 barrels per day (b/d) based on data derived from tanker movements, while total Venezuelan oil exports rose to close to 800,000 b/d from 498,000 b/d in December.
Reuters reported that Vitol and Trafigura exported about 12M barrels from Venezuelan ports in January, mostly to storage terminals in the Caribbean, and that much of it had not yet been sold.
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