The U.S. Department of the Treasury has finally placed PDVSA under its sanctions regime targeting the kleptocracy of Nicolás Maduro. This escalation followed the Trump administration’s recognition of Juan Guaidó as interim president of Venezuela. Today, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Austria, and Sweden announced their respective recognitions of Guaidó, as Maduro has not sought a meaningful solution—namely, calling for free and fair elections. However, the Treasury Department could do much more to choke the last remaining source of cash for Maduro: PDVSA’s exports to U.S. Gulf refineries.
Data from Transportation and Trade and Supply of PDVSA obtained by this site for December and January reveals a number of active players trading with PDVSA and CITGO. These are:
RIL USA Inc;
Reliance Industries Limited;
Industrias Reliance (Middle East);
China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC);
Rosneft Trading;
Helios Petroleum Services;
Novum Energy Trading Corporation;
Atlantic Trading and Marketing Inc.;
LDC International Supply LLC;
Trafigura Trading;
Trafigura PTE Ltd;
Repsol Trading;
MS International and Corp;
Valero;
Vitol;
Chevron;
China Oil International PTE;
Nynas AB;
CITGO;
China National Petroleum Corporation;
TNK International Trading;
CUBAMETALES;
Curacao Isla Refinery BV;
Essar Oil Limited;
Tipco Asphalt Limited;
Houston Refinery LP;
Castleton Commodities International;
Element Ltd;
Proactive Energy.
Despite the desperate humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, PDVSA continues to send fuel to Cuba (CUBAMETALES) including jet fuel, diesel, commercial butane, blends, Mesa and Merey crude worth millions of dollars.
Added: once the sanctions took effect (January 28), Valero, Chevron, RIL USA, and Houston Refining ordered their ships not to dock until further notice. The tankers departed afterwards. PDVSA forced RIL USA to offload a shipment of naphtha, according to sources.