Oil tanker Kerala, chartered by Chevron, is loaded in the Bajo Grande oil terminal at Maracaibo Lake, in the municipality of San Francisco, Venezuela, January 5, 2023. REUTERS/Isaac Urrutia/File Photo
By Marianna Parraga, Laura Sanicola and Arathy Somasekhar
HOUSTON, Nov 16 (Reuters) – U.S. oil firm Chevron Corp has begun supplying fuel to Venezuela’s state-run oil company PDVSA under Washington’s approval of expanded deals with the South American country, three people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
Chevron and PDVSA previously had stuck to a 2022 agreement to expand some operations that included a swap of Venezuelan crude for Chevron-provided diluents and for repayment of debts owned by Venezuelan joint ventures. Last month, Washington broadly eased sanctions on the country’s oil sector, paving the way for wider sets of exchanges.
Under terms that imply an expansion of the previous swap deal, Chevron has begun supplying PDVSA with fuel including naphtha and gasoline blend stock, one of the people said.
The first vessel under the arrangement arrived in Venezuela’s Jose port this week carrying 450,000 barrels of heavy naphtha for PDVSA, according to tanker tracking data and a document see by Reuters.
A second tanker was being chartered this week to transport some 240,000 barrels of gasoline blend stock for November delivery, two of the sources added.
PDVSA and Chevron did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
Earlier this month, Chevron began inspecting PDVSA’s facilities at the El Palito port, close to the country’s capital and a traditional hub for motor fuel imports, in preparation for the deliveries, according to one of the sources.
It was not immediately clear if the fuel shipments will be compensated with Venezuelan crude or under a different payment mechanism. The October license clears the way to make and receive payments from Venezuela, and to procure goods and services for oil and gas projects.
(Reporting by Marianna Parraga and Arathy Somasekhar in Houston, and Laura Sanicola in Washington. Additional repotring by Sabrina Valle)
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2023.
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