About a month ago, Reliance announced that it would halt the exports of diluents to Venezuela… from its subsidiaries based in the U.S. Prior to Reliance’s announcement, sources informed this site that Brian Ballard had been hired to lobby on behalf of Mukesh Ambani with the Trump administration. Ambani seeks the lifting of sanctions so his business can continue to thrive at Venezuela’s expense. A dataset from PDVSA shipments obtained by this site shows that, between February 24 and March 16, Reliance lifted 7,600,000 barrels of Venezuelan crude.
While officials from @realDonaldTrump are pressuring @reliancegroup from #India to stop doing business with @NicolasMaduro, Ambani’s lobbyists from @ballardfirm are busy trying to obtain authorization from @USTreasury regarding sanctions on #Venezuela or #Iran… pic.twitter.com/lXiaQqltxn
– alek boyd (@alekboyd) March 12, 2019
The list of companies still extracting crude from Venezuela has decreased significantly, indicating how effective the sanctions regime has been. Besides Reliance, CNPC, and Rosneft, which currently obtain most of PDVSA’s crude exports, only a handful of other companies are receiving crude shipments: Essar, Trafigura, MS International & Corp S.A., Sahara Energy, and Cubametales.
Meanwhile, someone has to fill the void left by the Reliance diluents. PDVSA sources report that Spanish companies Repsol and Rosneft have taken on this task, which may explain why Elliot Abrams mentioned during a recent visit to Spain that the U.S. government is investigating Repsol’s activities. Reports indicate that Abrams stated European countries should also investigate the activities of the boliburguesía, as this class of totally corrupt thugs can launder hundreds of millions of dollars stolen from Venezuela.
Spain is the perfect showcase, as not only does money laundering proliferate involving banks, authorities, law firms, and jet set, but the Spanish government’s policy of turning a blind eye goes beyond mere disregard for money laundering laws. Known boligarcs and chavistas are welcomed and are obtaining citizenships and residencies. The refusal to comply with U.S. extradition requests involving individuals wanted by the Department of Justice is another aspect. Spain is actively undermining not only the U.S. sanctions regime against chavismo but seems to want to replace the U.S. as Venezuela’s favorite corrupt destination. Madrid is the new Miami…