Venezuelan oil exports crater as OPEC + set to unleash more crude

Photographer: Ana Maria Otero Borjas / Bloomberg

Venezuelan oil exports plummeted this month as US sanctions stranded some of the South American country’s cargoes in Asia and competition with other OPEC + members will intensify.

A lynchpin of the Venezuelan economy, sales fell about half from November to 231,613 barrels per day, according to shipping reports and ship tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. That leaves exports for the year at their lowest level in about seven decades.

Cargoes loaded in December could arrive in Asia as early as January, just as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies are increasing supplies and are scheduled to decide whether to further increase production the following month in a meeting at January 4th.

Venezuela has managed to defy sweeping US sanctions against state producer Petroleos de Venezuela SA and continue to ship some crude oil abroad, mainly to China. But Washington has intensified its crackdown on companies breaking the restrictions, and PDVSA, as the company is called, is struggling to sell its barrels in Asia.

• Click here for PDF of shiploads and volumes

According to data from Bloomberg, tankers that left Venezuelan ports in April are known to discharge their contents months later. Ships are generally charged on a daily basis, and long waiting times to dock can be expensive under standard shipping contracts.

Ships with Venezuelan crude oil were They reportedly turned off their satellite signal equipment and painted over their names to hide their identities and avoid detection, say people with knowledge of the situation.