Aramco unit buys first cargo of Venezuelan heavy oil since 2019

Saudi Aramco’s US trading division bought a cargo of Venezuelan Boscan crude for March delivery, its first purchase of the heavy crude suited for asphalt making, sources familiar with the deal said on Thursday.

The cargo was sold by US energy major Chevron to Saudi Aramco, one of the sources said. Aramco acquired Motiva Trading in 2023 and became the sole supplier of Motiva Enterprises, which owns the 640,500-barrel-per-day refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, the largest in the United States.

The deal also marks Aramco Trading America’s first Venezuelan crude purchase. Motiva had bought another grade of crude oil from the South American country in 2019 before Venezuela’s entire energy sector was hit with US sanctions, data from the Energy Information Administration showed.

Chevron is boosting exports of Venezuelan oil under an individual US licence it obtained last year and also using a general licence granted by the US Treasury Department in late January, which broadly authorizes oil exports from the US-sanctioned South American country.

Trading houses Trafigura and Vitol are also exporting Venezuelan oil, following US licences granted last month as part of a $2 billion deal between Caracas and Washington to export up to 50 million barrels.

All of the sources spoke on condition of anonymity. Motiva did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Other US refiners, including Valero Energy, Phillips 66 and Citgo Petroleum, have also bought Venezuelan oil cargoes since the US-Venezuela pact began, and are preparing to boost Venezuelan oil processing at their refineries.

Venezuela’s crude exports to the US increased to 284,000 bpd in January from 99,000 bpd in December, according to tanker monitoring data.

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• Qatar and UAE circle post-Maduro Venezuela
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