An oil tanker sails on Lake Maracaibo, in Cabimas, Venezuela October 14, 2022. REUTERS/Issac Urrutia/File Photo
By Marianna Parraga
March 25 (Reuters) – Loading of Venezuela’s heavy crude at its main oil ports slowed this week after the U.S. imposed a tariff on trade with countries buying the South American nation’s oil and producer Chevron began reducing its tanker fleet there, according to shipping data and a document seen on Tuesday.
On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration published an executive order declaring that any country buying oil or gas from Venezuela will pay a 25% tariff on trades with the U.S. starting in early April.
Washington also extended until May 27 a deadline for Chevron to wind down operations in Venezuela. This includes exports of Venezuelan crude to the U.S.
The two moves temporarily focused Trump’s pressure on buyers of Venezuelan crude other than the U.S., such as China. Planned enforcement methods were unclear.
As of Tuesday, Venezuela’s main oil port, Jose, operated by state-owned PDVSA, had an empty berth, while three supertankers were loading, according to vessel monitoring services TankerTrackers.com and LSEG and a company document.
No tankers were loading for exports at Bajo Grade, which handles shipments of the heaviest crude grades, the data showed.
About two dozen vessels, mostly supertankers, were waiting to load around Jose while two remained in Venezuelan waters after completing their loads, TankerTrackers.com said, adding that two ships left the country empty since mid-February.
The bottleneck of tankers might lead to loading and shipping delays in coming days as many customers remain puzzled by the U.S. tariff implementation, especially in China, the largest buyer of Venezuelan oil.
While the U.S. gave Chevron seven more weeks to wind down operations in Venezuela, the upcoming terminationof its license, which last year allowed it to export some 210,000 barrels per day (bpd)to the U.S., has in recent days reduced the number of vessels chartered by the company waiting to load in Venezuelan waters, the data showed.
A total of seven cargoes of Venezuelan oil chartered by Chevron have departed from the country so far this month, compared with 15 in February, the shipping data showed.
PDVSA and Chevron did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
Trump to hit Venezuelan oil buyers with tariff, extends Chevron’s wind down Read full story
(Reporting by Marianna Parraga; Editing by Chris Reese and David Gregorio)
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2025.
Join the gCaptain Club for curated content, insider opinions, and vibrant community discussions.
Join the 108,935 members that receive our newsletter.
Have a news tip? Let us know.
Freight rates for Russian oil supplies from its Baltic ports to India are declining from recent record highs amid an increase in offers from Western shipowners after Urals crude oil prices fell below a price cap of $60 per barrel, two traders said.
Swedish utility Vattenfall has greenlit construction of the Nordlicht 1 and 2 wind farms off the northern coast of Germany. Together the two projects will become the country’s largest off-shore wind park. With construction to begin in 2026 the project is expected to be operational by 2028.
More than three years into the Ukraine War the EU has finally slammed the door shut to the transfer of Russian LNG across its terminals. Ukrainian officials have long called for the bloc to begin phasing out the Russian supercooled gas, but support in Brussels for a full-fledged ban remains haphazard.
Essential news coupled with the finest maritime content sourced from across the globe.
Sign Up
Join The Club
