Venezuela’s PDVSA allocates heavy crude cargo to Italy’s Eni

Venezuela’s PDVSA allocates heavy crude cargo to Italy’s Eni

Photo: Stefano Rellandini – Reuters

 

Venezuela’s PDVSA has allocated an oil cargo to a unit of Eni for a February loading, the first to the Italian firm following a contract suspension this year by new management at the state-run company, people familiar with the matter said.

By Reuters – 

Feb 8, 2023

Eni (ENI.MI) and Spanish oil firm Repsol (REP.MC) in May last year received authorizations from the U.S. State Department to take the crude to Europe for outstanding Venezuela debt and dividends, an exception to U.S. oil sanctions on Venezuela.





The cargo allocations, which worked intermittently last year, had not happened this year amid a large audit instructed by PDVSA’s new boss Pedro Tellechea to avoid failed payments by some customers.

Eni received two cargoes of Venezuelan diluted crude in June-July and two more shipments in November. The crude was exported in Eni-chartered vessels and delivered partially to Repsol oil refineries in Spain, according to PDVSA’s documents and vessel monitoring services.

The latest cargo assigned to Eni is scheduled to load through ship-to-ship transfers at Venezuela’s Amuay STS area. PDVSA recently has struggled to receive larger tankers at its West coast ports due to infrastructure issues, the people said.

Eni declined to comment on individual transactions but said it is operating “in compliance with the applicable sanction regimes.”

Read More: Reuters – Venezuela’s PDVSA allocates heavy crude cargo to Italy’s Eni

La Patilla in English