Oil flotilla sails from Venezuela despite US blockade

Jan 5 (Reuters) – About a dozen oil tankers loaded with Venezuelan crude and fuel have left the country’s waters since the start of the year in apparent defiance of the U.S. government’s blockade on exports, according to documents seen by Reuters and industry sources including monitoring service TankerTrackers.com.

U.S. President Donald Trump imposed a blockade of all sanctioned tankers bound for Venezuela in mid-December, before the dramatic capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by U.S. troops in the early hours of Saturday morning. Trump said on Saturday that an oil embargo remained in full force after Maduro’s extraction.

All the departed vessels identified are under sanctions and most are now sailing on the high seas without any known flag or current ship safety documentation in place, shipping data showed. Half of them are supertankers that typically carry Venezuelan crude to China, according to TankerTrackers.com and shipping documents from PDVSA.

It was not immediately clear whether the U.S. had approved or allowed the shipments. Trump also said on Saturday that Venezuela’s largest customers, including China, would keep receiving oil. 

A U.S. official told Reuters on Monday the vessel “quarantine” was in effect focused on sanctioned tankers, but did not elaborate on the departed ships.

The White House, the U.S. State Department, state-run Venezuelan oil company PDVSA and Venezuela’s oil ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

The vessels are carrying an estimated volume of 12 million barrels of Venezuelan heavy crude and fuel oil, according to deals negotiated with PDVSA and satellite images analyzed by TankerTrackers.com.

It was unclear where the vessels were heading. When they loaded in December, they were mostly destined for Asia. The ships had been stuck in Venezuelan waters since due to the U.S. blockade. 

A separate group of three smaller empty ships, also under sanctions, left the country after completing domestic trips or discharging imports, including of Russian naphtha.

At least four of the departed tankers left Venezuelan waters on Saturday through a route north of Margarita island after briefly stopping near the country’s maritime border, TankerTrackers.com said.

At least four supertankers had been cleared by Venezuelan authorities to leave in dark mode, three sources with knowledge of the departure paperwork told Reuters. That means the vessels sail without their satellite tracking devices switched on, a common ploy for tankers in the global fleet that carry sanctioned oil from Venezuela, Iran and Russia around the world.

“We managed to get some supplies out,” a PDVSA source said. “The shipments were authorized despite the risks, but we don’t think we can continue using that route.”

In a planned meeting with Venezuela’s interim president and oil minister Delcy Rodriguez later on Monday, PDVSA’s board of directors was expected to receive directions and make decisions related to exports, the person added.

CHEVRON RESUMES EXPORTS

Separately, U.S. oil major Chevron called employees back to Venezuela after the holidays and resumed exports of Venezuelan oil to the U.S. on Monday after a four-day pause, according to shipping data and a source.

Chevron is the only company authorized by Washington to export Venezuelan crude, exempted from both the embargo and sanctions. A tanker chartered by the company is now carrying some 300,000 barrels of Venezuelan heavy crude to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The fluidity of Chevron’s operations in Venezuela, which has in recent years emerged as PDVSA’s main joint-venture partner, amid the country’s deep political turmoil contrasts with the state-run company’s situation.

PDVSA’s exports had ground to a halt last week due to the blockade, forcing it to begin cutting output at the weekend. The firm had almost nowhere to store the oil after filling onshore storage and loading ships with crude. 

There were more than 20 million barrels bound for export stuck in ships before these departures, according to TankerTrackers.com. 

Oil exports are Venezuela’s main source of revenue. The government, now led by Oil Minister and Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, needs cash from exports to finance state spending and to stabilize the country.

Venezuela’s National Assembly on Monday re-appointed Jorge Rodriguez as its President and his sister Delcy was formally sworn in as interim president after Maduro’s detention.

   Trump told reporters on Sunday that he could order another military strike on Venezuela if authorities do not cooperate with U.S. efforts to open up its oil industry and stop drug trafficking.

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Simon Webb, David Goodman and Nia Williams)